New Guard
by Methos2523
Summary: When the Goa'uld invade, the world is taken by surprise... now Ethan Rayne has come back to change the past, hopefully to save the future, though how will his intended target feel about the changes his future self has forced upon his life, changing him from Zeppo, to the Man of Tomorrow...
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: New Guard

AUTHOR: Methos (methos )

DISCLAIMER: All things BtVS belong to Joss Whedon; Superman and all DCU characters belong to their respective... Ok, easier just to say this is going to be quite a big multicross, so just count anything you recognise as belonging to someone else ok? Nothing is mine, only the extremely twisted idea…

* * *

Halloween had always been one of Jack's favourite holidays, he remembered the times he was out trick or treating with Charlie, going around the neighbourhood for candy, the streets filled with happy children in costumes, all trying to outdo each other with their bags filled with sugary treats.

Even now he could remember Charlie's face lighting up whenever Halloween got close, ever since they'd started trick or treating Charlie had always worn the same costume, a miniature flight suit that was supposed to have been from a child's Top Gun costume, they'd modified it together, using one of Jack's own name tags across the chest though. It was the only night when Jack went out of the house without his dog tags on, and that was only because Charlie always had them draped around his neck proudly, a big grin on his face whenever anyone asked him who he was dressed as.

Ever since Charlie had died though, Halloween just reminded him of everything he'd lost, in the past it had always been one of his favourite holidays, now it was just another reminder of the family that had been destroyed by his old service side arm. With the recent incident involving the alien crystals imitating Charlie, the memories, both painful and good, were closer to the surface than ever before.

So this year, much like any other, he was sat alone in his house, the TV was playing soundlessly in front of him, muted so not to bother him, while he sat back in the couch, a beer in one hand and a photo of Charlie in the other. Just like last year he'd been invited to Halloween parties, one with General Hammond and his family, the other with Captain Carter down the other side of town. He'd declined both, he was happy just in the quiet, sitting down and thinking, lost in his memories.

Putting the photo of Charlie back on the side table for a moment he finished off the beer in his hand, dropping the empty bottle down into the small trash basket that was kept there for paperwork or empty envelopes. Standing up to move around to the kitchen to fetch another beer the sight that greeted him flicked across his eyes so quickly that it didn't even register at first, he'd taken another two steps before his brain caught up with what he had thought he'd seen, causing him to slowly back step and turn back to face the television.

"That's new." He said to himself as he grabbed the remote from the couch and flicked the volume back on. Idly wondering to himself why the TV was actually tuned in to CNN, he was sure it had been on ESPN or something.

"We have here exclusive live footage of the test flight of the new Colson passenger carrier, its maiden flight from Westchester to Colorado broken tragically short when three of its four engines suffered catastrophic failure mid-flight."

Jack raised his eyebrow at that, the engineer in him knew how rare it was for one engine to fail mid-flight, for three out of four to fail in the air, not during tests or take off, meant that something had definitely gone FUBAR up there.

"The story is not the engine failure however," The news woman reported. "The Colson carrier was preparing to make an emergency landing at LaGuardia Airport's eastern runway when the plane righted itself without explanation."

Jack snorted at this as the screen behind the anchor woman expanded to show in grainy detail what was being filmed. "Oh for Christ's sake." He laughed the picture now showing was the one that had caught his attention in the first place.

"This footage was taken by am amateur plane enthusiast several minutes ago outside of Pelham Bay Park, as you can see, there is clearly a man underneath the fuselage of the plane, and he appears to be carrying the disabled craft down towards LaGuardia, however it is still unknown at this time who this mystery hero is, or how he is doing what he appears to be doing."

"It's a publicity stunt for crying out loud," Jack snorted as he shook his head in amusement, ignoring the TV now as he continued into the kitchen to fetch another beer.

"If you look closely however, this mysterious hero appears to be wearing a Superman costume, in a manner re-enacting Superman's first appearance in the comics where he saved a passenger plane from crashing into downtown Metropolis."

"Gee, there's a shocker," Jack laughed as he returned to the living room with the beer, cracking the lid off easily before taking a mouthful. He had to admit though, it was a pretty good publicity stunt, the footage actually looked genuine, not some special effects or badly done stich together. Shaking his head he flicked the channel over to Sky News, amused when a variation on the picture was being shown there.

"We have cameras on the ground at LaGuardia Airport waiting to find out who this mystery hero is. Is this a publicity stunt for the new plane, or possibly for a new movie, our correspondent with Colson could only say that the mysterious 'Superman' was nothing to do with them and that they truly feared for the people on board the passenger carrier before he turned up."

"Hell, might even see this movie for myself." Jack snorted as he sat back down on the couch, actually amused at the amount of effort that had gone into this publicity stunt, getting multiple news channels and a big company like Colson Industries, a company that actually had Air Force contacts, to cooperate with the stunt must have been hell for the movie company, he hadn't even heard they were doing another Superman movie, but then he hadn't exactly been keeping up with movie news or anything lately.

"The 'Superman' and the disabled passenger carrier are now approaching LaGuardia Airport; we go now to Jennifer Jenson on site." The man at the Sky News desk announced before the picture flicked over to a cute redhead who was stood outside a large airport with various emergency vehicles behind her and a crowd of people in the background.

"Thank you Todd, it is still unclear what caused the malfunction on board the Colson premier carrier, what is known is that three of the engines suffered a catastrophic failure nearly an hour after take-off. The passenger carrier took off from Westchester Airport earlier this evening on its maiden voyage towards Colorado, shortly after take-off the engines suffered failure just north of New Rochelle the plane mysteriously righted itself and seemed to by flying itself towards LaGuardia Airport. It was not until we received footage and images from various sources that we could confirm that the plane had indeed been saved by this mysterious 'Superman' who appears to be carrying the plane safely towards the airport for landing."

Jack just grinned to himself as he took another mouthful from the beer, this was actually better than he had thought it was going to be, he hadn't thought any movie studio would have gone through this much trouble just to promote a movie, it was a Superman movie however, and movie studios were getting more and more ambitious with their promotional campaigns. He shook his head in amusement when the phone rang, so he tore his attention away from the television for a moment to answer it.

"Yello?" He answered with a smile on his lips.

"Colonel O'Neill," General Hammond's voice came over the line.

"General," Jack smiled. "Happy Halloween, how goes the party?"

"Good, thank you Jack. Are you watching the news?" General Hammond asked over the phone.

"Yeah, just caught it," Jack laughed back. "Pretty good stunt, even looks real, smoking engines and everything. Can't wait to see who they've cast for the Superman guy, can't make it out from here."

"It's no stunt Colonel," General Hammond said, his tone wiping the smile clean off Jack's face in seconds. "Doctor Jackson is on board that flight, he was heading back from a conference in New York."

"Is he alright?" Jack asked, the news about the stunt now in the back of his mind as he worried about his friend.

"It appears so; we managed to contact the passenger carrier on the emergency frequency. There are a few casualties on board, sprained ankles and the like, nothing serious." General Hammond explained. "We have a flight ready to take you to LaGuardia; Major Carter is already on route."

"Sir?" Jack shook his head to clear his thoughts for a moment. "Are you trying to tell me this Superman is real?"

"It appears that way Colonel, I've been fielding calls from the President and Joint Chiefs for the past twenty minutes, and they all want answers. Is he one of ours, if not, where did he come from?" General Hammond sighed in exasperation over the line. "Get out there; we have security at the airport already with orders to detain him for questioning."

"Leaving now sir." Jack said sharply over the line as he put the beer down and hung up the phone, grabbing his keys quickly from the table as he stood up and thanked whatever god was out there that he'd only had one beer.

Taking one last glance at the television as he was getting his boots on he shook his head, the screen was now replaying the fuzzy video of the man holding up the plane, it was zoomed in an enhanced now he still too fuzzy and shaky for him to make out any detail on the man's face or costume, the colours of the costume did seem to point out that whoever this guy was, he was wearing a Superman costume.

"Yeah right, Superman's real, what next, the all-powerful Oz?" Jack muttered to himself as he grabbed his jacket from the back of the door and headed out without turning the television off, intent on finding out exactly what was going on here.

* * *

"Carter," Jack nodded over as he sat down in the back of the private jet the Air Force had managed to get the use of to get them out to New York in the shortest time possible.

"Sir, I've managed to enhance the video sent to the news networks, it was taken by a Mr Gibbons outside of Williamsbridge, no records of him working with the news networks or movie studios." Carter explained as the jet began to taxi down towards the main runway.

"And we're sure this isn't a publicity stunt?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrow in hope.

"I'm afraid not sir," Carter smiled wryly back at him. "As you can see, I enhanced the screen shots as much as I could; the footage isn't great to begin with."

"I saw," Jack nodded as he looked at the photos Carter had laid out on the table between them. "It just seems like the better of two options here."

"Sir?" Carter asked, wondering what he exactly meant.

"Well, either it's a publicity stunt for a new Superman movie, which would be cool, or we've got a comic book hero out there capable of flying a downed passenger carrier across country to the nearest airport." Jack shook his head in amusement. "And to tell you the truth, I'm not sure which I prefer at this moment. Unless you want to tell General Hammond that Superman's real and is catching planes for us now?"

"I'll leave that to you sir." Carter smiled back. "What I can tell you is… Sir, do we have to call him Superman?"

"He's wearing the costume," Jack shrugged, tapping his finger on the enhanced photo where the 'S' shield was easily visible on the man's chest, if a bit blurry from being zoomed in so much. "And he's saving a bunch of people, Daniel included, you tell me what we're supposed to call him."

"Ok, Superman then," Carter frowned as the name left her lips. "Well, it appears this Superman is real, or as real as I can ascertain from the footage. There is no possible way for the place to remain in the air, not with only one functioning engine, by all rights the plane should have crashed somewhere around Mamaroneck sir."

"Only it didn't," Jack commented as the jet started to take off, forcing him back into the back of his seat lightly. "Superman caught it, and I never thought I'd hear myself say those words seriously."

"Sir," Carter smiled back at him. "The Colson carrier weighs upwards of one hundred and eighty one thousand kilograms empty, taking into account passengers, fuel and luggage, possibly close to three hundred thousand kilos."

"Heavy," Jack nodded in agreement.

"Extremely sir, the Colson carrier has been built to replace the Boing seven four seven, it's the largest commercial flight plane ever built." Carter explained. "To lift something that heavy, well, the strain on the body must be enormous sir."

"And we'll just ignore the fact that he appears to be flying under his own power shall we?" Jack smirked over the table.

"I… I can't explain that sir, it goes against all laws of physics known to man." Carter said after a minute. "Men can't fly, not under their own power anyway, and lifting that much weight while flying, his upper body strength and flight capabilities must be astronomical."

"Ok, so we've got flying and super strength, what do you bet he's got the rest of the package as well?" Jack mused to himself.

"Sir?" Carter asked, pausing from where she was flicking over the footage again on her laptop to see if there was something she'd missed.

"You know, the rest of Superman's powers." Jack waved his hand idly.

"Sorry sir, I was never really a comic's fan growing up." Carter shrugged.

"You have to get out more," Jack groused with a smirk. "Flying, super strength, heat vision, super speed, x-ray vision, invulnerability, you know, those things that make him Superman."

"Yes sir," Carter rolled her eyes in humour at the Colonel. "Without tests or seeing these powers in action, I couldn't tell you if he had those powers or not, though seeing as we already have what looks to be proof of two out of the six, I'd say it's a good bet sir."

"Well best settle in, it's about three hours and some change to New York, hope the security boys there can hold him until we get there." Jack grinned as he tried to imagine airport security trying to stop Superman from leaving if he wanted to.

* * *

"Mike, Mike, Mike…" James rambled quickly as he practically ran into the Deputy Mayor's office.

"James, cut it out, I already told you, nobody leaves until we catch up on the week's paperwork. There's someone coming in on Monday, now I know this is cutting in to your Friday night boat racing or whatever it is you do, but it needs to be done." Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty explained, for what felt like the sixth time tonight as he looked up from his desk.

"It's not that," James nodded quickly. "You've gotta come see this."

"Is Stuart playing mini golf with real eggs again?" Mike asked as he stood up, actually happy to take a break from the paperwork that had been slowly piling up on his desk all night. "Because I told him, if he tries that again I wouldn't be held responsible…"

"No, no, just…" James trailed off as he led the way out of the office, back into the main area where everyone was stood in the middle of the floor looking up at the TV that was normally there for them to keep track of The Mayor's appearances and catch any problems as they happen. "Just watch." James explained as he stepped aside so Mike could work his way through to watch the TV as well.

"What is this?" Mike asked with a frown, wondering what had everyone captivated on the TV, even Stuart and Stacey were there, watching without their usual bickering, which meant whatever was on was probably more interesting than work, which wasn't actually hard given the repetitive nature of the paperwork they were all meant to be doing. "Come on guys, we need to catch up with this. This isn't movie night, it's…"

"Shhh!" Nikki hissed out, nodding up to the TV set to turn Mike's attention back to that instead of where he was looking at them.

"It's Fox news Nikki," Mike said dismissively. "Not exactly known for its favourable words about our favourite mayor or the…" He trailed off as he actually caught what the reporter on the screen was saying.

"Continuing our live coverage from LaGuardia Airport now, where the damaged Colson carrier is approaching from over the East River." The News Lady explained as the camera panned away from her and to the skyline where the city lights of the South Bronx were easily visible on the other side of the river, but the sight that had everyone's attention was the plane that seemed to be flying at an impossibly slow speed across the river, three of its engines on fire and lighting up the plane well enough in the night for it to be perfectly visible in the black sky. "As you can see, there are rescue crews on the ground preparing for what would seem to be one of the largest disasters this airport has ever witnessed, though we are still receiving reports that the unnamed hero is working to help the Colson carrier approach for a safe landing."

"This is live?" Mike asked, wide eyed at the sight on the TV screen.

"It's on every channel," Nikki explained. "Something went wrong after take-off…"

"The plane is on fire, I can safely say that something went pretty wrong," Mike commented as he continued watching the TV footage.

"Anyway, that's not the story, not the big one anyway," Nikki continued. "There's some guy out there, helping to land the plane."

"The traffic controller?" Mike asked curiously.

"Not unless he wears blue spandex and a red cape," Stacey said with a nod. "Check it out." She explained, nodding back up to the TV screen.

"As you can see, the man under the fuselage of the carrier itself appears to be wearing the costume known world-wide as the character Superman," The reporter continued as the video feed switched to a blurred and grainy image, obviously taken by an enthusiast with a zoom lens on his home camera. "What is easily recognisable in the distinctive logo and design of the costume, though we currently have no explanation for how he is capable of performing this heroic act."

"Superman?" Mike asked, raising his eyebrows. "Superman is landing that plane for us?"

"He's flying over New York with a plane bigger than a house on his back," Stacey said with a shrug. "You want to call him something different?"

"Well, no, but… Superman?" Mike asked in disbelief.

"I'm right there with you buddy," Stuart said with a nod. "But the cameras don't lie, well they do, but not these ones."

"Stuart, men can't fly, they certainly can't lift planes and carry them across my city." Mike explained. "And there certainly wouldn't be a Superman flying around New York without us knowing about it."

"Think about it Mike," James nodded along. "Maybe this is where he wants to make his home, you know, Superman has Metropolis, this Superman has New York."

"James, that is quite possibly the stupidest…" Mike trailed off as the News Broadcaster interrupted from the TV behind them.

"We now have word, the Colson carrier, carried by the mysterious hero, is approaching now for landing." The reporter explained, the camera angle shifting to zoom in on the carrier itself, the fires and smoke coming from the large engines showing the scope of the disaster far better than any words could. "It's obvious from what we can see here that there would have been no way for the carrier to stay airborne without the help of this hero." The reporter continued as the camera angle shifted down to try and get a better shot of the undercarriage of the plane, though with the carrier's angle of descent it was hard to make out anything but a small blue and red object on the undercarriage.

"Paul, get the police on the line, I want them out there now to help contain this thing." Mike ordered, jumping straight into business mode. "Stuart, get on the line to LaGuardia. I want to know exactly what happened out there, flight plans, explanations, everything." He explained as everyone turned to him. "This is all over the news now, and by tomorrow we're going to have reporters everywhere wanting our take on this disaster and this hero guy, whatever his story is."

He paused, looking around the room to where people were already heading towards their phones ready to get on with the tasks he'd issued. "Stacie, get the Mayor in here, he's out at the Country Club tonight. We'll want him on site to be briefed with whatever this turns out to be. Nikki, with me." He explained, turning to head back to his office to grab his coat.

"What are we doing?" Nikki asked, following Mike into his office and grabbing her coat from the coat stand on the way.

"We're going to meet Superman." Mike said as he grabbed his coat, turning a one-eighty and heading back out the door in quick strides.

* * *

"Good lord," Giles breathed out as he all but ran into the back on the costume store. Following Willow's clues to finding Ethan's store hadn't really been hard, the entire stunt stank of Ethan Rayne, but he hadn't actually expected to find the man there waiting for him.

It wasn't just the fact he was waiting for him either, it was the look on his face. Expectation along with a tired and weary face, one much older than he had any right to be. He simply smiled and nodded, like anyone would towards an old friend as Giles walked in. "Ripper," He coughed before continuing. "It's been too long."

"Ethan?" Giles asked, slowing his pace and pausing by the entrance to the back room, the shock at seeing his old friend worn and withered now shifting the anger he'd felt at the entire night's fiasco.

"Afraid so," Ethan nodded. "Couldn't be sure you'd make it, not this time around any…" He trailed off as a violent cough interrupted him.

"Ethan, what have you done?" Giles asked, worry taking over. It was one thing to be angry about tonight's events, but the frail man in front of him definitely wasn't who he'd been expecting to face.

"What had to be done," Ethan said with a nod, using his sleeve to cover his mouth as another coughing fit took over. "Hadn't… expected it to happen so soon though."

"So soon?" Giles asked, noting the blood that was on Ethan's sleeve as he brought his arm away. "Ethan, what have you done?" He asked again.

"Saving the world," Ethan said with a wry smile before coughing again, his body shaking before he closed his eyes and forced it back under control. "If you'd believe that."

"I don't," Giles shook his head. "Who's choice Ethan?"

"Xander's," Ethan said with a weary smile. "This was his plan all along."

"Xander wanted this?" Giles asked in disbelief. "I find that hard…"

"Not your Xander," Ethan shook his head, interrupting Giles' argument. "He doesn't even know what's going on, or what's coming."

"What's coming?" Giles asked with a frown, seeing the urgency on Ethan's face. "Ethan, tell me." He asked again when Ethan started coughing violently, his knees buckling as he sank to the floor.

"Next year," Ethan said as the coughing subsided. "That's when they come."

"Come?" Giles asked, kneeling down to check on Ethan, using a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe away some of the blood from the older man's lips. "You're… you're not from…"

"This time?" Ethan nodded in confirmation. "Temporal relocation, high cost but it was the only way." He explained.

"High cost?" Giles glared over. "Magic dealing with time travel isn't just dangerous you fool, the repercussions to the body alone are…"

"Hadn't expected it to be so painful," Ethan said with a wince as he tried to sit up straight. "Under... under the table." He explained with a nod, gesturing to a table on the far side of the room.

"You said Xander chose this?" Giles asked, glancing over at the rucksack that was under the table but wanting an explanation first. "Chose this for what? What did he, you, do?"

"The end of the world," Ethan explained. "Never really believed in any of that anyway, more fool me." He explained as he crouched on the floor. "The bag, there's a note from Xander, my Xander not the Slayer's friend." He explained. "He sent the costume to himself, a way to stop all this from happening."

"Stop what? The apocalypse?" Giles asked in disbelief.

"The invasion," Ethan said with a grimace. "Aliens, know it's not your usual fight Ripper, but it's not as if we have a choice here."

"Aliens?" Giles frowned, inwardly wondering what sort of joke Ethan was trying to pull here.

"They came," Ethan nodded, adjusting himself against the pillar he was leaning against for more comfort. "We… we couldn't stop them." He explained before starting to cough again, nodding in thanks when Giles handed him the bloody handkerchief from before. "They invaded, bombed everything. London, Manchester, even New York and Washington. All gone."

"Ethan I hardly think…" Giles trailed off as Ethan shook his head violently.

"No!" Ethan interrupted. "No one thought Ripper, that's the point! No one really believed it was happening. They came, bombed our little planet from orbit. Blew up our cities and landed armies." He explained, the ghostly look of memories on his face enough to convince Giles that what he was saying was true. "Three years we survived, your two Slayers fought them. The witch too, he watched them both die with the aliens using some sort of alien staffs." He explained as he wiped away some more blood from his mouth and nose. "We didn't stand a chance."

"Two…" He started before shaking that thought away for the moment. "If what you're saying is true…" Giles trailed off, horrified at the picture Ethan was painting of the near future. "How can we…"

"Xander figured it out," Ethan said with a nod. "Earth was defenceless, armies were cut down, and missiles that couldn't even scratch their shields." He explained as he tried to stand up again, using the pedestal to leverage himself up before Giles helped him gently. "We needed to change it, change everything." He explained.

"How…" Giles trailed off in thought as he helped Ethan stand fully. "The costumes."

"Xander's," Ethan nodded in agreement. "We argued for days about it. I thought an army of characters from science fiction shows and movies could help. Giving them weapons, abilities that could defend the Earth from the aliens."

"And Xander?" Giles asked, the magnitude of tonight's events hitting him like a brick wall as he realized what Ethan was trying to do here.

"We needed an army, but he..." He explained as he broke off in another coughing fit.

"What… what did you do?" Giles all but demanded as he tried to understand what Ethan had done here.

"The bag," Ethan nodded again, over to where the rucksack was still under the desk. "It… it explains everything." He said as he started coughing again, coughing up blood into his sleeve and then over the floor as he collapsed down to his knees where he knocked over the pedestal to the side of him, the bust on the top falling to the floor and smashing against the tiled ground.

"I'll call for help," Giles said urgently, looking around the room for a phone he could call an ambulance with. "Ethan, just…"

"There's so much," Ethan said softly as he wiped the blood from his lips, staring over at the smashed bust on the floor and hoping that the possession had had enough time to take over his body properly. The spell they'd worked on required a minimum of three hours, and even counting on the time for Ripper's interruption, it was still close. "Seven months, the…" He trailed off as he started coughing again, his aged and frail body not able to keep up with the urgency in his mind and what needed to be done. "The bag, a diary… dates…" He said in-between coughing fits as he lay against the pedestal in the centre of the room. "Help him become…" He wheezed out, trailing off as his eyes closed.

"Ethan!" Giles shouted, flicking his eyes between the holdall Ethan had been pointing at before reaching out hesitantly to check the older man's pulse, letting out the breath he'd been holding as he felt the weak, but steady, throb under his fingers. "What have you done?" He whispered as he looked around the room before focusing back on Ethan and sitting down next to him while he slept.


	2. Chapter 2

TITLE: New Guard

AUTHOR: Methos (methos )

DISCLAIMER: All things BtVS belong to Joss Whedon; Superman and all DCU characters belong to their respective... Ok, easier just to say this is going to be quite a big multicross, so just count anything you recognise as belonging to someone else ok? Nothing is mine, only the extremely twisted idea…

* * *

"Gahhh!" Xander screamed for all he was worth, half his brain immediately shutting down as consciousness flooded back to him as his brain saw what was beneath him.

The last thing he remembered was going out trick or treating for Snyder's youth program, not that he'd had any choice in the matter. He was going to go as a soldier, but when he'd seen the Superman costume on offer at the costume shop he couldn't resist, the costume guy had even given it him on discount for the night, saying he'd been 'saving it' for someone who could do the costume justice.

Only he was pretty sure this wasn't how the night was supposed to end, opening his eyes again from where he'd closed them tightly after opening them the first time, he was rewarded by the sight of asphalt rushing up to meet him, he didn't even have time to wonder what it was he was holding behind his back or what the hell he was doing falling towards what looked to be a runway in the middle of the night.

Closing his eyes again, he whispered a short prayer to whatever gods out there might actually be listening as he prepared to hit the ground. He couldn't even open his eyes to see the end coming; unquestionable terror just took over his body as his fingers squeezed around whatever it was he was holding up behind him as he waited for the inevitable splat.

A strange noise broke him out of his terror though, what sounded like tires screeching on a road, the sound was followed by a rough shake that threatened to dislodge him from whatever it was he was holding on to, thankfully however his grip was fuelled by pure terror and his body refused to be shaken free from whatever it was he was squeezing for dear life.

The smell was the next thing that hit his nose, burning rubber, and strangely smoke and chemicals, like something was on fire close to him, a strange smell like exhaust fumes mixed with familiar smells from his Uncle Rory's garage. He took a few seconds to summon up the bravery to actually open his eyes, opening his left eye slowly before his right, hoping and praying that he would wake up at this would just be another dream.

Strangely he wasn't falling anymore, now he seemed to be moving along the ground quite quickly, the asphalt beneath him rushing past though starting to slow down somewhat, still fast enough to just be a blur of black with white stripes though.

Terror and confusion still paramount in his mind he leaned up, looking ahead to see what he has doing and what he was actually holding on to, his eyes widened tenfold as he could see ahead what actually looked to be the front end of a very large plane, the front landing gear was down and happily with contact with the ground, feeling a bit braver he looked to his left, sure enough it was a plane alright, the wing stretched out, with two engines built into it, both of them leaving a trail of flames and smoke in the night sky.

"Oh god, oh god, oh god…" He muttered out as he tried to look around to see what on earth he was actually doing here, his body still didn't want to let go of whatever it was that was holding him here in the first place, and he was still in fervent hopes that this was some sort of candy induced nightmare and he'd wake up soon.

Glancing down to his chest he could see that he was still wearing the same Superman costume that he'd started the night in, though something was different, but that wasn't what was on the forefront of his mind now, the fact that there appeared to be nothing holding him to the plane, no straps or anything holding him tight, that was what grabbed his attention. His brain immediately told him to check his chest to see if what he was seeing what actually true, so his body reacted, regardless of the fact that the other portion of his brain was telling him this was possibly the stupidest thing he could ever have done.

His right hand let go of whatever it was he was holding on to, the small portion of his brain told him that that was probably the plane, his hand barely had time to reach past his elbow towards his chest when he fell from the bottom of the plane, impacting the asphalt as the large plane travelled along, still slowing down from its makeshift landing.

The impact of his body and head into the asphalt left a rather large dent, throwing up asphalt all around him as he bounced back a second time, and a third before the rear left landing gear impacted his body, driving the air out of his lungs with a whoosh before he was pushed under the wheels and into the asphalt again.

The plane shuddered slightly as it ran over his body, even slowing down it was still going at well over seventy miles per hour as it ran over Xander's body, the burning rubber of the rear landing gear leaving smouldering black marks across his chest and face as it travelled off down the runway, leaving him impacted in the ground like some sort of broken doll.

"Owww…." Xander breathed out, not actually wanting to move at all at the moment, just thanking whatever lucky stars he had, or whatever gods that were looking out for him, that he'd actually survived the impact with the ground and the very large wheel that had run him over.

Logically his brain told him he couldn't have actually survived this ordeal, but the larger part of his brain was telling him to shut up and just thank the God's that he'd actually survived. His hearing made out sirens getting closer and he could see the flashing red and blue lights now lighting up the sky and ground around him

While he could now hear the engines of vehicles getting closer he still couldn't get up the courage to stand up or move at all, he was content to just lie there in the makeshift crater that had been made around him and wait for the overwhelming urge to soil himself to leave, his eyes still wide open and frozen from the sight of the ground rushing up to meet him like that and the fact that he was actually alive and not in any pain, despite actually being run over by a very large plane of some sorts.

He was still lying there in shock and terror when an ambulance actually pulled up next to the crater about five minutes later, fire trucks and other emergency vehicles had just gone speeding past him towards the direction the plane had taken, though the ambulance had stopped just short of him, it's siren now turned off, just leaving its flashing blue lights to light up the area around him.

"Hey, there's somebody down there!" A voice called out as the ambulance shut its engine off.

He heard a door open, then another one, then looking upwards he could see two men dressed in white looking down in the shallow crater to where he was.

"Hey, it's the guy, Superman!" The first voice called out, and Xander actually managed to see which one of the two men was talking this time.

"You alright down there man?" The second man called out.

"I've just been run over by a plane," Xander shouted back, surprised by the fact that he could not only talk without any pain, but actually moving his head or arms didn't hurt at all. He'd been lying still picturing the fact that he'd actually broken his back or arms or neck or something, not that he'd be lying there perfectly alright after being dropped from the bottom of a plane then run over by said plane.

"Shit man, you alright? Can you move?" The second man called out. "Hold on, we'll get some help."

"Yeah, whatever…" Xander breathed out as he finally got up the courage to try and move his head, expecting at any moment for there to be a sudden pain that would leave him paralysed for life. Moving his head slowly from left to right he tested his neck first, no immediate pain or loss of feeling, that had to be good.

Happy that his neck didn't seem to be injured or damaged or anything, he tried his fingers next, all working, then onto his arms and legs, all of which appeared to be fine. "Ok, stranger things have happened…" He muttered to himself as he slowly stood up, watching where the two medical guys had come back from the ambulance with a stretcher and other medical equipment from the back of the ambulance.

"You shouldn't move, there might be damage to your spine or…" The first medic trailed off as he watched Superman climb out of the small crater and dust himself off.

"Uh, yeah, thanks." Xander shook his head. "Just, wow, uh, just happy to be alive thanks."

"How… how did you… you know…" The second medic asked, gesturing down the runway towards the plane that was now surrounded by fire trucks and ambulances, flashes from cameras were going off around it and lighting it up for everyone to see. "I mean, catching a plane, you're a superhero or something, is the costume real, are you really Superman or something?"

"Uh… what?" Xander asked, rubbing his face where he could still feel the hot rubber that had been left in a black mark up the left hand side of his face where the plane had run over his body and head.

"Oh man, I can't believe we're the first guys to meet Superman," The second medic laughed. "Seriously, you can fly and do all that stuff? X-ray vision, that must have been so cool growing up with."

"Uh, I… I don't know what you guys are on about." Xander said in confusion as he walked towards the stretcher behind the two medics. "Do you mind?" He asked before sitting down on it, running his hand through his hair.

"Oh man, here come the officials," The first medic said, nodding to where a large army style truck was moving towards them. "Guess they want to talk to you as well."

"Aww hell," Xander muttered to himself as he dropped his head into his hands, still fervently hoping that this was some sort of messed up dream, though it was seeming less and less like it as time went on. "Where am I anyway, 'cause this sure isn't downtown Sunnydale."

"Sunnydale?" The medic asked with a snort. "Never heard of it pal, you're in New York."

"New York?" Xander asked, flicking his head up towards the medic in a vague hope that he was kidding. "As in the city?"

"The big apple kid," The medic smiled back. "Look man, you're a hero, those guys just probably want to thank you or give you the key to the city or something, you saved hundreds of people on that plane."

"Uh, yeah, right…" Xander trailed off, not knowing quite what to say to that.

"You sure you're alright, no broken bones? Bruising, swelling, cuts or anything?" The second medic asked, looking him over quickly to see if he could see any blood or anything that told them they would be needed here any further.

"Feel fine," Xander answered honestly with a shrug.

"Are you sure? Because, you did just get hit by a plane." The medic laughed.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Xander muttered to himself as three police cars pulled up alongside the ambulance and several officers stepped out in unison; he froze as all of them raised their guns immediately towards him, causing the two medics to hold their hands up instantly.

"Step away from him," One of the police officers said as he stepped forwards, his gun still trained on Xander's chest.

"Look I…" Xander trailed off as he looked at the various guns that were now being pointed at him.

"You're kidding right?" The medic scoffed, his hands still up in the universal 'surrender' pose. "He saved that plane, god knows how many people, what would have happened if it had crashed, or crashed down in the city?"

"Yeah come on guys," The second medic spoke up now. "He saved the day, if that plane had crashed into the city or something it woulda been hell, he's a national hero."

"I'm under orders; we're to detain this man for questioning." The police officer that had spoken up before answered. "Please, come this way."

"Oh you're going to detain Superman?" The first medic snorted. "Come on, just fly away or something."

"Uh… I…" Xander started but trailed off, not actually knowing what was going on here or what he had supposedly done that warranted the military pointing guns at him.

"Please sir, I'm sure they only want to ask you some questions." The lead officer said again, stepping forwards cautiously.

"Then why have you got guns pointed at the guy that saved that plane?" The second medic asked, drawing looks from the military guys as well as Xander.

"Uh, yeah, what he said." Xander quipped with a small smile, pointing at the second medic before he raised his hands in surrender as well.

The police officer that was seemingly in charge he slowly lowered his gun, the men behind him doing the same shortly after. "They just want to ask you some questions alright?"

"No more guns?" Xander asked, still holding his hands up and smiling as non-threateningly as he could.

"If you would accompany us sir." The man said, stepping aside to motion towards the police car. "My orders are you get you away from the scene of the incident before the press arrive, and we don't have much time." He nodded to the distance where Xander could easily see several news vans now speeding towards where they were all stood.

"Ok, walking slowly alright," Xander commented as he stood up from the stretcher slowly and cautiously stepped towards the police, taking another step when none of them raised guns again.

"Thank you," The officer in charge nodded in appreciation. "For what it's worth, I think you did something amazing here today, I'm just following orders son."

"Uh, yeah, thanks?" Xander commented dryly as he climbed into the back of the police car, holding his cape so not to trip on it on the way up, a second officer moving to sit beside him in the car before another closed the door behind him and got in the front of the car.

* * *

He opened the door almost before the taxi had come to a stop, pushing a quick twenty dollar bill through the window to the driver as he got out, ignoring the cold night air that was coming off the river and through the airport as he headed over towards the side entrance. He'd specifically ordered the taxi to driver around to the west entrance after seeing the news vans parked alongside the main entrance, knowing the reporters would already be inside camped out and waiting for their chance to get the scoop on the story that was unfolding.

"What are we doing here anyway?" Nikki asked as she jogged up to walk alongside him, despite having longer legs than Mike, he was moving a lot faster than her with an urgency to get inside.

"It's Superman Nikki," Mike said with a 'duh' tone. "Even if this is some kind of stunt, which I'm kinda hoping it is, there's dozens of reporters waiting to get a piece of this. And if this does turn out to be the real deal… then wow…"

"You think he's real?" Nikki asked as she followed Mike through the entrance into the side of the airport where he caught sight of two officers and headed over to them.

"Let's think about it shall we?" Mike said as he walked over. "Either we've got some guy who tied himself to the bottom of an airplane that he somehow sabotaged to crash, which doesn't explain how it even stayed in the air for as long as it let, let alone landed. Or…"

"Or he's really Superman," Nikki nodded along. "And I'm not sure which is the crazier idea."

"With you there," Mike nodded along as he approached the two officers, pulling out his City Hall official papers as he came to talk to them. "Where is he?" He asked, nodding as the two officers recognised him without even glancing at the ID he was holding.

"Over in hanger three," One of the officers nodded. "We're keeping him away from the news crews but they're sniffing around anyway. We've already caught three groups of them trying to sneak out to the runway to get pictures of the carrier."

"The carrier?" Nikki asked curiously, wondering why the news crews would be trying to get photos of the downed plane instead of the hero that saved it.

"We've got FAA coming in to take a look themselves, strangest thing I've ever seen." The officer explained. "Colson Industries are sending down specialists to try and figure out what went wrong."

"The engines?" Mike asked hopefully.

"Not a clue," The officer shrugged. "FAA will be looking at that, fire crews are out there evacuating the plane and checking over the fuel before they let anyone else near it."

"Then why are the…" Nikki trailed off as the officer nodded.

"Hand prints," The officer explained. "We saw them when we went to check there wasn't any support or straps to keep the guy on the bottom. Large as life."

"Hand prints?" Mike asked with wide eyes.

"Two, pushed into the metal, like a kid would do to a plaster mould." The officer nodded. "Couldn't tell you if they were a match to the guy in the hanger, but looks like a safe bet to me."

"Hand prints, in the metal of the plane?" Mike said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Scrunched up like paper, damndest thing I've ever seen." The officer explained. "Come on, we'll get you over to the hanger. Giving you a heads up though, we've had calls all night asking to keep this guy for interviews. You guys, FBI, NSA, even the Air Force are flying in some specialists just to talk to him, some pretty heavy clearance too, managed to get themselves a landing even after we closed all the runways off."

"Fine, hanger three?" Mike said, looking around and catching sight of the large Colson carrier out the glass windows that made up the side wall of the airport, even with the flames extinguished the fire crews were still waiting in a circle around the carrier, the blue and red lights lighting up the runway with ambulances alongside and a crowd of people being checked over.

"This way," The officer explained as he led the way out of the airport back the way they'd came before walking through the security cordon with a nod.

* * *

"That's him?" Nikki asked quietly as they followed the two officers into a hanger, the hanger itself had enough security around the outside to make sure they weren't disturbed but the 'Superman' himself didn't look to be any other than sixteen or seventeen. "He's just a kid?"

"A kid that can fly and bench press giant planes." Mike reminded her in an equally quiet voice. "Not to mention the suit kinda gives it away."

"That's the guy," The officer explained with a nod. "Medics gave him a check over once we brought him in, word is he landed the plane and then got run over by it somehow, we're checking the security tapes to see if they caught anything, I'll let you know if we find anything on them."

"Thanks," Mike nodded before walking slowly over and opening the door to where 'Superman' was sat at a table in the room that had been cleared for him, his arms laid out on the table where handcuffs were easily visible. "Hey." Mike said by way of greeting as he walked in with a smile.

"Uh, hey?" Xander looked up hopefully, still not actually sure what had happened here or why he was even in New York, before waking up on the undercarriage of the plane, his last memories were back in Sunnydale ready to head out trick or treating with the kids Principal Snyder had assigned to him.

"Mike Flaherty," Mike introduced himself as he walked over, holding a hand out for 'Superman' to shake, then frowning as the kid had to use both his hands to shake his because of the handcuffs. "Deputy Mayor."

"Of…" Xander asked, opening his eyes wide as Mike continued.

"New York," Mike said with a proud smile. "Gotta say, you've created quite a stir out there. Cool though, and landing a plane by yourself, nice way to make an entrance."

"Landing…" Xander trailed off, raising his eyebrows in disbelief. "Look, I don't know what…"

"Ok, let's get to the elephant first, then we can talk about the rest of it ok?" Mike interrupted him, pulling over a chair for him to sit on, turning it around at the table so he could cross his arms on the backrest and still look at 'Superman'. "We've got people here saying you're the real deal, other guys telling me this is some sort of hoax or movie promotion."

"Movie…" Xander asked in confusion.

"I don't care either way, well, ok, I do about the Superman stuff, 'cause you know, promotion like that, cool special effects, would of been nice to be notified they were pulling a stunt like that on my watch." Mike explained. "So if this is a stunt or movie promotion, then I need to know now, so I can figure out what to tell the reporters outside."

"Reporters?" Xander asked with wide eyes. "What… how… what for?"

"You landed a plane," Nikki explained, coming to stand by Mike. "With your hands, flying and everything. It was on all the channels."

"So level with me here ok?" Mike asked in a friendly and open manner. "This some sort of movie deal, I could see the big companies paying enough to put this out there. You just give me the contact details and I'll see if I can…"

"Mike, I don't think he's part of any stunt." Nikki interrupted from where she'd been watching 'Superman' face turn to shock over what he was being told. "You're not part of any stunt or movie promotion, are you?"

"Nuhuh," Xander shook his head quickly.

"You're not?" Mike raised his eyebrows questioningly. "Then how…"

"Would you believe me if I said I didn't know?" Xander asked hopefully. "Look, this is all a big misunderstanding ok, seriously, whatever you guys think I did, it wasn't me ok?"

"You carried a plane across the city and landed it," Mike explained, standing up in disbelief at what he was being told. "On your back." He added. "So if this isn't some sort of movie deal, then you're…" He trailed off, looking at the young man in the Superman costume. "Real?" He asked after a moment's pause.

Whatever the 'Superman' was about to say was interrupted by a knock at the door into the small 'office' where they were sat, causing everyone to turn around to see an officer entering slowly. "Mr Flaherty, we've just received word. The Air Force jet is landing, they've sent word that they're taking over the investigation."

"They're taking over?" Mike asked in confusion, standing up from the chair and heading over to the officer.

"Yes sir," The officer nodded. "Confirmed through HQ, they got a call from high up the food chain. We're to keep him here until they arrive, after that, it's out of our hands."

"I want to talk to these guys," Mike said with a frown. "Where are they coming from?"

"The Air Force cleared for landing on strip twelve," The officer explained. "Some specialists coming in, all I know is they've got enough clearance to get the FBI to back off without argument, so whoever they are, they've got some heavy clout coming down with them."

"Ok," Mike nodded, trying to piece all the questions together in his mind. "Nikki, you stay here." He said, looking over to where Nikki was still stood next to where 'Superman' was sat at the table. "Strip twelve?" He asked, turning back to the officer.

"I'll take you over," The officer nodded. "We've got some guy over in waiting, says he's with the air force, but doesn't have any ID to prove it."

"Probably a reporter trying to sneak in," Mike said with a frown. "Keep them away, set up a cordon around the main building, keep the reporters inside until we know exactly what we're dealing with here."

"Sure thing Mr Flaherty," The officer nodded. "Come on, I'll take you to where the Air Force are landing." He explained, leading the way out of the hanger.

* * *

"What have you done?" Giles asked with a sigh, looking over at Ethan's sleeping form as he tipped out the rucksack onto the table it was stored under, something that looked like a black skisuit of sorts with a dark red cape was the first to fall out, along with various bits of paper and followed by two odd looking devices that looked like coiled mechanical snakes that were folded in on themselves.

Sitting down at the desk he unrolled the costume neatly, taking his glasses off as he recognised the stylised red symbol that was embossed on the front of the black costume, the dark red standing out over a darker grey background that set itself apart from the black of the rest of the costume. "You didn't…" He whispered as he matched the dark red cape along with the costume, sure enough the colours were different, but the design and symbol itself were instantly recognisable to anyone.

"Hey, younger me," Giles read aloud as he picked up one of the folded pieces of paper, noting the scrawled name of 'Xander' on the front before unfolding fully. "Figure this is gonna take some explaining if Ethan held up his side of the deal, so, um, sorry I kinda did this to you, me, whatever?"

"Good grief," Giles muttered as he rolled his eyes, nodding to himself as he tried to imagine Xander writing this note in the future. "So, by this point I figure you've figured out what happened, or Ethan managed to tell you or Giles. Speaking of, tell Giles that Angelus comes back. There's a loophole, he loses his soul through sex, so tell Buffy to keep her legs closed alright?"

Giles put the letter down at that point, rubbing his eyes in disbelief and wondering what else was in the letter. The sheer idea of someone coming back from the future to change everything was astronomical, letting them know about the alien invasion was one thing, but details like this were set to change everything. Though in retrospect, he knew that was actually the idea here.

"The aliens, yeah, aliens. And we're not talking ET or Star Wars babes with green skin here, because if that were the case then we wouldn't be changing anything right?" Giles continued to read, shaking his head at the little face that was drawn winking out from the page. "Sorry to kinda put this on you, but there isn't anyone else. We changed this point to give you a headsup on it all, help you stop it all. Maybe stop Buffy and Willow from dying, and thousands of others along the way. The photos are what we could grab from instant cameras and bits we found, figure they'll help you know what's coming, at least you'll be able to tell that these are the bad guys when they come."

Giles frowned to himself, putting the letter down and searching through the pile of papers and bits on the desk before coming across a small pile of photos that were bundled together with an elastic band. The front picture telling him everything he needed to know, a large spaceship, gold and black in design and oddly pyramid shaped, hovering over some decimated city, the photo capturing a bright yellow blast of energy coming from the ship and heading down towards one of the remaining buildings.

"I know I'm not giving you much time here, but hey, you're going to be better off than we were." Giles continued reading, turning back to the letter and putting the pile of photos next to it. "March sixth, that's when they started to send the world to hell. So, you've got about five months to save the world. No pressure right?"

"Oh god lord," Giles muttered out, slumping back in his chair and taking his glasses off before rubbing his face wearily. "Xander, why on Earth would you do this to yourself?" He muttered as he tried to wrap his head around what was going on before replacing his glasses and picking up the letter again with a morbid sense of urgency.

"The two guns, we grabbed them from the aliens, press the top to turn them on, then squeeze the handle." The letter continued. "Figure they're some sort of alien taser thing. One shot will knock anything out, human, alien, demon, whatever. Second shot kills most things, third shot does this cool disintegrator ray thing, pretty useful for getting rid of bodies and stuff." Giles paused, looking up from the letter to the two devices that were in the back pack, curved designs that shone with a dark bronze sheen, purple and green highlights on the top and bottom edges obviously showed which way to point the oddly shaped gun.

"Sorry we couldn't give you more time, or you know, stop it altogether." Giles continued, going back to the letter. "But hey, being Superman, hope you get a better gig than I did as the soldier. Explosives and rocket launchers are cool I guess, but flying and x-ray vision, definitely cooler."

"Xander with x-ray vision, good lord," Giles sighed in amusement, picturing how he was going to tell Buffy and Willow about all of this.

"Just do what you can alright?" The letter continued. "Figure even if you can save a few then you're doing better than we did. Don't know if you'll be able to get the army to believe you anyway, there's a base under UC Sunnydale, or will be anyway, don't know when they built it or anything, so sorry for the vagueness, but we ended up using the base to hide when the aliens started bombing LA. Riley Finn, he's the guy you can go to. Or can go to anyway, they know about the demons and stuff, and do their own fight, if you can convince them about the aliens then you might get some help, hope you can."

"And it keeps getting better," Giles muttered wearily as he frowned at the idea of the military getting involved with The Slayer.

"Anyway, if this all changes everything, then I guess I won't be around, or you won't be, or you won't be me, whatever." Giles read on with a nod as he tried to understand what the older Xander was trying to get across. "Just do the Superman thing alright, I know the red and blue isn't exactly good for helping out Buffy, so we got a black suit as well, should fit, Buffy's mom can help if it doesn't anyway. Sorry for the pressure but you're, I'm, whatever, the last hope here. Good luck." Giles sighed as he put the note down, noting the scrawled signature of Xander's at the bottom before taking off his glasses, putting them on the desk before rubbing his eyes wearily and trying to figure out where he should go from here.

* * *

No sooner had the plane landed than Colonel O'Neill and Captain Carter were ready to get off, flight time had been slightly shorter than they'd expected but about half way through they'd received confirmation that the plane had actually 'landed' without incident and that 'Superman' was being held for their investigation.

Carter already had her laptop and papers packed back into her carryall and was stood by the door as the private jet taxied down the runway to stop, Jack wasn't far behind her, enjoying his coke until the last minute when the cabin crew opened the door for them so they could leave.

"What do you think he's like, I mean, an alien or the real deal?" Jack asked as they hurried off of the plane and across to where a black unmarked car was waiting for them to drive them across the airport to where Superman was being held for questioning.

"I thought Superman was an alien sir?" Carter asked as they got into the car, its engine already running, she barely had time to close the door behind them before the driver started towards the hanger on the far side of the airport where they'd been told the Air Force was taking control of the situation.

"You know what I mean Carter," O'Neill groused. "One of ours or, you know, some alternate dimension thing?"

"I couldn't tell you sir," Carter partially shrugged. "Without running detailed DNA tests, it's quite possible either choice could be the right one."

"Fine fine," O'Neil shrugged as he glanced out the window; the airport was now speeding by as the driver drove as quickly as he could towards the hanger. Thankfully the private jet had landed pretty close to where Superman was being held, so it wasn't too long until they were approaching the closed off hanger.

"Do we have a story in place sir?" Carter asked as she noticed the amount of press that was already outside of the hanger, taking photos and doing live broadcasts, as soon as they noticed the unmarked black car approaching all attention turned to them however.

"No comment," Jack said firmly to her as the car pulled to a stop, he had to push the door open physically to clear a way from the amount of reporters that were already pushing at the window to try and get a photograph of the people inside the car.

"Is there any truth to the rumours that this is just an elaborate promotional stunt for an up and coming movie?" One reporter asked.

"No comment," Jack said calmly as he pushed through towards the hanger.

"Is the air force conducting secret trials to create its own Superman?" Another reporter asked, this time thrusting the microphone towards Captain Carter.

"No comment," Carter said firmly, the disdain for the idea and question evident in her tone.

"Will DC comics be suing the so called Superman for breaching copyright on his name and costume?" Another reporter asked, trying to push in front of O'Neill with his camera crew behind him.

"No comment." Jack groused back as he pushed around the camera. "Get these people back; I want this entire area free of reporters!" He shouted towards the various guards that were stood around the hanger preventing any of the reporters from gaining entry to where they'd secured Superman for questioning.

"You heard the Colonel," Carter said calmly as she pushed past another reporter. "No comment, I'm sure a press release will be issued to all of you shortly." With that said she pushed past the last of the reporters, the soldiers now pushing the reporters back away from the hanger, leaving Jack and Carter some breathing room to step inside the hanger and close the door behind them.

"Colonel,"

O'Neill turned around, ready to issue another 'no comment' but frowned instead, as he saw the guards around pushing all the reporters back but one of the officers was walking through with a single man in a suit heading towards them. "I said no comment." He said; ready to glare at the officer who had brought him through.

"I'm not a reporter," Mike said with a nod as he approached the two Air Force officers. "Mike Flaherty, Deputy Mayor."

"Great," O'Neill muttered to himself. "I'm assuming you're here because of…"

"Why else?" Mike said with a nod. "I've been told you guys are taking over."

"This falls into our jurisdiction," O'Neill nodded. "I'm not interested in the politics or commenting on anything that we…"

"The kid," Mike interrupted. "He's not part of some movie promotion, is he?"

"You spoke to him?" O'Neill asked with a glare.

"Before we knew you were taking over," Mike back peddled quickly. "Superman lands a plane in downtown New York; you've got to figure that we're paying close attention to this. They've got footage of him landing the plane, some even managed to get close enough to get photos of the handprints he left in on the undercarriage."

"You're kidding me," O'Neill frowned as he turned back to face Mike. "They're running this?"

"As far as I know," Mike nodded. "I've got our press secretary back at City Hall figuring out how to put a spin on this, the Mayor's already been notified."

"And you're here to…" O'Neill asked, trailing off for Mike to fill in the answer.

"We've got Superman here," Mike said as if it was the simplest answer in the world. "Or at least some kid with all the powers of Superman. The press are going to have questions, and we're going to have to answer them if he doesn't. So unless you want the reporters talking to you guys instead…" Mike trailed off as Colonel O'Neill started walking again.

"Fine, fine," O'Neill groused as he started walking towards the hanger again. "You field the press, we deal with the so called Superman, but just stay out of our way alright?" He said with a frown before catching sight of someone waiting outside the hanger with the security officers.

"Finally," Daniel nodded as he jogged away from the security guards to meet O'Neill and Carter. "Jack, Sam." He nodded with a smile.

"Hey space monkey," Jack grinned up, seeing Daniel stood in front of them safe and sound, waiting with his bag definitely took a load off his mind. "Heard you had some travel problems?"

"Oh you know, engine failure, plummeting to our doom, saved by a flying man in a Superman costume, same old." Daniel smiled back.

"Hey Daniel," Carter smiled over. "Have you spoken to him yet?"

"They won't let me in, I left all my papers back at the base, didn't think I'd need them for the trip." Daniel shrugged, though the frustration of not being able to thank the person that had saved his life was evident in his voice.

"One of my people is inside keeping him company," Mike explained as he waved himself through the security cordon with the O'Neill and Carter following. "They thought he was a reporter trying to sneak in." He explained apologetically towards Daniel.

"You have someone in there with him?" O'Neill asked sharply.

"I'm not about to leave the kid alone while I went to find you," Mike explained, meeting the Colonel's glare with his own frown. "He seemed just as shocked about all this as we are."

"I doubt that somehow," O'Neill said, shaking his head as they walked into the hanger and caught sight of the small office where he could see someone dressed in a Superman uniform sat with a young woman. "That her?" He asked, looking to Mike for confirmation.

"Nikki, my assistant," Mike explained. "Look, I'm all for letting you two take control here, but what are we going to tell the news crews outside?"

"How about you wait until we've decided what's going on here before you start planning any stories?" O'Neill asked with a frown as he opened the door leading into the small mechanics office where Superman and the young woman were talking. "You, out." He said, beckoning to the woman that was talking with the young man in the Superman costume.

"Mike, what's…" Nikki asked as she walked out of the office, closing the door behind her.

"These two are talking over," Mike explained. "We're to 'wait' until they've decided what's going on here." He said with a frown as Colonel O'Neill nodded.

"You've been speaking to him this whole time?" O'Neill asked, looking towards the young woman who was now stood with Mike.

"Who are you?" Nikki asked, turning to face the Colonel who was obviously in charge now.

"Colonel O'Neill," O'Neill answered gruffly. "Tell me about him." He asked with a quick nod towards the door where everyone could see 'Superman' sat at the desk watching them through the window.

"Go on," Mike nodded when Nikki turned to him questioningly.

"He's a kid," Nikki said with a shrug. "Keeps trying to say this is all some sort of mistake, even tried telling me it was a prank and that we should just let him call someone called 'Giles' who could straighten this all out."

"Call someone?" O'Neill asked curiously. "He give you a number?"

"No, when I asked he said he was invoking his Fifth Amendment rights." Nikki explained.

"Fine," O'Neill nodded, hiding a smile as he pictured Superman trying to say that with a straight face. "Anything else?"

"He's just a kid," Nikki explained. "He keeps saying he doesn't even remember doing anything like this, let alone how he actually did it."

"We'll take it from here, you two just wait outside until we straighten this out." O'Neill said with a nod towards Mike. "Try and keep the reporters away from all of this if you can." He said before he turned towards the office door and walked in with Carter and Daniel in tow.

"Fifth amendment?" Jack asked with a smirk as he looked at the man sat at the desk in the center of the room. "You know this isn't a court room right?"

"Seemed like the smart thing to say," Xander commented with a shrug, wishing he'd actually learnt what the fifth amendment actually meant other than seeing it used on TV shows when people didn't want to answer questions.

"It wasn't," Jack rolled his eyes. "So, uh, Superman, how's that working out for you?"

"It's just a costume, I dressed like this for Halloween," Xander explained.

"So, saving the plane, that was all, what, special effects or something?" Jack asked with a snort.

"Daniel Jackson," Daniel chose this time to step forward, holding his hand out to shake. "I was on board the plane; I don't know how you did what you did, but thank you, for everyone you saved."

"I… I uh…" Xander shrugged.

"What, they don't shake hands on your planet?" O'Neill quipped. "Krypton right?"

"No, I'm just… well…" Xander smiled bashfully as he stood up, showing the three people in the room that he was handcuffed behind his back.

"Oh for crying out loud," Jack rubbed his hand across his face. "You just lifted a plane out of the sky and carried it down to land, and they handcuffed you?"

"The police guys said it was just procedure," Xander smiled as harmlessly as he could.

"Well it's not necessary," Jack frowned as he moved to the door and opened it, checking to make sure that the Deputy Mayor and his assistant had moved away before looking to the guards outside. "Lieutenant Pierson around?"

"He went with Mr Flaherty to group up the reporters and keep them away from the strips Sir," The guard explained sharply.

"Ah," Jack nodded back. "Don't suppose he left the handcuff keys with you guys did he?"

"No sir," Both guards shook their head and answered at the same time.

"Damnit," Jack muttered before he went back inside the room and closed the door. "Sorry, no keys. Can't you, you know, break them off or something?"

"Uh, they're handcuffs, you know, solid metal?" Xander said as he looked over towards Jack.

"You're Superman, do your thing, you know," Jack pantomimed breaking the handcuffs apart with his arms. "More powerful than a locomotive and all that stuff."

"You do know that's a comic character right?" Xander smirked over, while figuring what the hell and actually pulling his wrists apart sharply, his surprise actually showed on his face when the links between the handcuffs gave way like tissue paper, leaving his hands free to move around.

"Right, that's better, sorry about that," Jack grinned over. "So, saving the plane, care to share how you did that?"

"I… uh…" Xander trailed off, still looking down at the two now broken parts of handcuffs attached to his wrists.

"Again, thank you," Daniel smiled over. "Sorry, do you want a drink or anything; I don't know if the woman brought you anything while she was here."

"Uh, just kinda peckish, haven't eaten since, well, lunch time I guess." Xander smiled back.

"We'll get you food later," Jack interrupted as he brought the questioning back on track. "So, do you have a name, or are we going just by Superman here?" Jack quipped, nodding to the S shield on the man's chest.

"Xander," Xander smiled back, finding Jack's sense of humour very much like his own. "Xander Harris."

"Fine, Xander, so, where ya from?" Jack asked, catching sight of Carter to his right writing all of this down in a pad of paper.

"Sunnydale," Xander shrugged. "Look, am I in trouble or something, 'cause I don't remember doing anything wrong here, then there's guys pointing guns at me, and oh yeah, I got run over by a plane."

"You know, I was wondering about the tire mark," Jack grinned as he looked at the black tire mark that ran across the top half of the man's costume, across his neck and face where it had half been rubbed off and smeared. "Musta hurt."

"Not so much," Xander shrugged back. "Guess I'm just lucky or something."

"Oh give it a rest," Jack laughed. "You catch a plane out of the sky, bring it in to landing, somehow get run over by the same plane you're carrying, not sure how that happened by the way, and you're saying you're just lucky?"

"Uh, very lucky?" Xander tried hopefully with wide innocent eyes.

"Not buying it." Jack shook his head in amusement. "So, how about the truth this time, where are you from?"

"Sunnydale." Xander repeated his earlier answer.

"Not Metropolis or Smallville?" Jack asked with a grin.

"Stop being an ass Jack," Daniel said with a roll of his eyes. "I take it you're not from around here, by here I mean Earth. Well that's obvious, I mean to say, how did you get here, and where did you get the idea for the costume? Did you see it in a TV show, a book, a picture somewhere?"

"Oh for crying out loud Daniel," Jack cut him off. "Look, you didn't come through the Stargate, we know that, so you've probably got a ship around here somewhere, just tell us where it is, and we'll see about sending you home."

"Star-whatnow?" Xander asked, catching on to the bit about the Stargate. "I don't have a ship or anything; I was born here, like you, well, not here, Sunnydale."

"Sunnydale, right, and that's where?" Jack asked, humouring the man stood across from him.

"Near LA," Xander shrugged, he knew it was a small town but had figured some people must have at least heard of it before.

"Riiight," Jack drawled out. "And you just happen to be able to fly, lift a plane that weight, what…"

"Three thousand and…" Carter started but was cut off by Jack waving his hand.

"Stupid amounts of weight," Jack finished for her. "So come on, just tell us where your ship is and we'll let you go home, you can even keep the costume."

"I don't think he's lying Jack," Daniel said openly as he moved to stand next to Superman, who he could see was still looking at the broken handcuffs in shock. "This, this is all new to you as well isn't it?" Daniel asked, poking the handcuffs that were still attached to his right wrist idly.

"Uh, yeah, kinda," Xander nodded.

"Oh for cryin' out loud," Jack groaned. "You're telling me you just woke up this morning and had all the powers of Superman? You thought, what, let's fly around, catch a plane, its Halloween no one will notice me right?"

Xander didn't quite know what to say to this, he'd heard people say he'd caught a plane, everyone had been thanking him for it and everything, but it was still something he couldn't actually remember doing, aside from waking up holding on to the bottom of one while it was landing of course.

"Carter, you have a go, I'm going to check in with General Hammond and explain the situation." Jack grumbled before he stood up and marched to the door, flipping his cell phone out of his pocket as he walked. "And don't let him go anywhere."

"Uh Jack, how are we supposed to stop him?" Daniel asked with a raised eyebrow, gesturing to the broken handcuffs with his hand and causing Jack to pause by the door.

"Ask nicely." Jack shot back before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

* * *

"Mr President," Leo McGarry announced his presence as he knocked on the open door of the Oval Office.

"Leo," President Bartlet said with a nod. "Come on in."

"Sir, we have a situation." Leo said with a frown.

"I know that," President Bartlet frowned back. "I'm still trying to figure out what the hell we can do about the problem Charlie had tonight at the club."

"No sir," Leo shook his head solemnly. "Perhaps you'd better come with me sir." He explained firmly.

"You couldn't come with good news?" President Bartlet frowned over as he stood up from his desk and picked his jacket up off the back of his chair.

"Not today Mr President," Leo explained as he walked alongside President Bartlet out of the Oval Office. "Approximately one hour ago, the Colson Carrier on flight from Westchester County Airport suffered catastrophic engine failure mid-flight." He explained matter of factly. "Full engine failure was reported two miles north of Mamaroneck where the flight entered an uncontrolled dive towards the city."

"And I'm just hearing about this now? What's happened?" President Bartlet asked with a frown as they reached the situation room where the two guards ahead opened the doors for them.

"Honestly Sir, we're not sure," Leo explained as President Bartlet took his seat before nodding to everyone around the table to sit back down. "News crews at LaGuardia International Airport report the plane landed safely, this has been confirmed by radar telemetry, though these pictures we're receiving tell a somewhat more confusing story." He explained as he gestured to the manila folder on the table in front of The President.

"Is this some kind of joke?" President Bartlet asked aloud, staring around the table. "Because I'm not laughing."

"No sir," Leo shook his head. "I wish it were Mr President."

"You're meaning to tell me, that this plane that suffered catastrophic engine failure, was reportedly saved by Superman?" President Bartlet asked with a firm face. "Is that what you're trying to tell me?" He asked, looking around the table.

"That's apparently what's happened Mr President," Admiral Fitzwallace nodded back. "I've been on the line with General Hammond in Colorado, and he confirms he has a team in New York investigating the matter thoroughly. He also confirms this is not one of the contacts they have registered there."

"This is real?" President Bartlet asked, tapping on the folder in front of him.

"Yes Mr President," Leo nodded back. "The news has already gone national with the story, Fox, CNN, Sky News already have the story, we can be assured the other stations will be following as well."

"I'm assuming we have a plan here gentlemen." President Bartlet said with a frown.

"Frankly Mr President, I'm not sure what we should do." Admiral Fitzwallace said hesitantly. "The heroic action of this unknown character speak to his motives, given his apparent strength and flight ability, I would be unwilling to offer a definitive action without knowing more."

"I'm sensing a problem here gentlemen." President Bartlet said with a frown.

"I believe alternative avenues would be best until we know more," Admiral Fitzwallace confirmed with a nod. "We have no knowledge of this individual, beyond the similarities he seems to share with the comic character, which is why I have been in contact with General Hammond regarding this matter."

"General Hammond?" President Bartlet asked, turning to Leo, knowing full well that Leo's knowledge of military programs exceeded his own by magnitudes.

"Commander of Stargate Command," Leo said with a nod.

"I'll remember that one," President Bartlet nodded back.

"We agree that this race could pose our first line of contact from Earth Mr President," Admiral Fitzwallace explained. "While the SGC has made several contacts on their own during routine exploration, this is the first time an alien race has come to Earth openly."

"Which brings with it its own set of problems Mr President," Leo interrupted. "Judging from these pictures, I think it's safe to say that secrecy is not on this being's agenda."

"I'd say catching a plane mid-flight and guiding it to the ground is a pretty open act of heroism, wouldn't you agree?" President Bartlet asked sarcastically. "So, what, we're looking to open contact with this…" He trailed off. "I can't call him Superman with a straight face people."

"I'd go with 'being' Mr President." Leo said with a nod. "It's easier if you don't think too much about the similarities between him and the comic character."

"Are we sure this isn't some prank by the news team or something the companies put out there for publicity?" President Bartlet asked hopefully.

"We're sure," Leo nodded back as he nodded to one of the airmen by the side of the room that had stepped forwards. "Yes?" He asked firmly.

"We have word that Superman has been detained at LaGuardia International Airport sir, General Hammond's people are taking control of the investigation. News crews are reporting footage and photos of Superman landing the plane which is apparently being circulated throughout the networks as we speak."

"This isn't good," Leo whispered out. "We're not going to be able to contain this for long Mr President." He explained, turning back to the table. "At best we're looking at exposure of an alien life form to the entire city of New York."


	3. Chapter 3

TITLE: New Guard

AUTHOR: Methos (methos )

DISCLAIMER: All things BtVS belong to Joss Whedon; Superman and all DCU characters belong to their respective... Ok, easier just to say this is going to be quite a big multicross, so just count anything you recognise as belonging to someone else ok? Nothing is mine, only the extremely twisted idea…

* * *

"General, sir," Jack nodded even though he knew that General Hammond couldn't see it from the other side of the telephone.

"Good to hear from you Colonel," General Hammond's voice came over the line clearly. "Have you managed to find anything out about the so called Superman yet?"

"Only that it looks like he's the real deal," Jack breathed out exasperatedly as he gripped the phone. "We've got a name though, Xander Harris. I'm fuzzy at his age though sir, I'm guessing mid to late teens physically, the costume doesn't leave much to the imagination General. I think we're looking at a teenage Superman here, I saw him snap a set of handcuffs like they were a daisy chain, and he even looked surprised that he could do it. If he decides to bolt, I don't think we're going to stop him."

"I'll take that under advisement." General Hammond's voice came back. "Is there any news on how he arrived here, we're going over the incoming logs now, but it seems highly unlikely that he came through our side of the Stargate."

"Claims he was born here, if you can believe that." Jack explained. "Sunnydale California, of all places."

"Not Kansas?" General Hammond asked in a wry voice.

"See, that's what I asked." Jack grinned, happy that his question wasn't as stupid as Daniel made it out to be. "But he claims he doesn't have a ship or anything, Daniel believes him."

"And Captain Carter?" General Hammond asked.

"Talking with him now sir," Jack shrugged. "I don't know what his deal is, but if he wants to come and work for us, then he could be a lot of help out there."

"That might be tricky son," General Hammond replied. "We're talking a lot of exposure here, he was caught on camera by no less than seven news networks, pictures and video of him saving that plane are all over the news stations already."

"Any chance we can fub this one off?" Jack asked in a hopeful tone of voice. "We've got the Deputy Mayor here working with the press now, says he's got their Press Secretary back at City Hall working through it all as well. Might be worth getting in touch with them and working together on this."

"We're trying to work something out now Colonel," General Hammond admitted. "Of course covering something this big up will be a political nightmare, we're working to see what we can keep quiet and what we can explain away."

"Somehow I don't think they're going to buy swamp gas or weather balloon sir," Jack grinned over the telephone. "I've told the Deputy Mayor we'll work with him to sort through the reporters, but at the moment, I'm not even sure what we can tell them. They've already got footage and pictures of him landing the plane, and if it's anything like the footage they showed on the news already, then it's pretty obvious it's not a publicity stunt or anything."

"It's being considered," General Hammond admitted. "We're in talks with Warner Brother's studios and DC comics to see what we can work with and what discloser agreements will need to be signed; hopefully we'll have a working cover story in place by the morning."

"Hope it's a good one sir," Jack said as he idly drummed his fingers on the desk. "

"Do you think this Superman will be willing to cooperate in the cover up?" General Hammond asked after a moment's pause. "It's make things a hell of a lot easier if he could work with us and the city politicians on this one."

"I'll ask," Jack answered after a moment's thought. "Seems like a pretty good guy, bit shook up, but then he did just get run over by a plane so…"

"Excuse me, run over?" General Hammond's voice raised a few notches. "I thought he caught the plane in the air Colonel."

"He did, I haven't got the full story myself yet sir, but the tire tread marks across his chest and face back up his story of the plane running over him after landing, and take it from me General, burning rubber doesn't come out of clothes no matter what you try." Jack laughed across the line.

"So you have added invulnerability to the list of powers this alien seems to possess." General Hammond's voice came across cautiously.

"I'd say that's a good bet sir," Jack nodded again. "Strength and flight are pretty much given at this stage, I'd have to ask about the others first though."

"See what you can do, I'll expect a full report and threat assessment upon your return to the SGC." General Hammond bit out.

"Will do General." Jack said with a grimace before he heard a click and the phone went dead in his hands. "So, Superman, how fast are you, x-ray vision? Must be a kick around the changing rooms." He snorted to himself before his brain caught up with the idea and realised he'd left Carter in the room with someone with X-ray vision. "Damnit." He muttered to himself before he started back towards the office they were using as an interrogation room.

* * *

"I have to ask though, how did you manage to keep the structural integrity of the plane intact while bringing it to a safe landing?" Carter asked after bringing out the photos onto the desk for Xander to see. "We've been told there are handprints in the bottom of the plane that could match your hands, so I'm wondering how you countered the weight and sheer mass of the carrier. The structural integrity should have been compromised from the angle you caught it, of course accounting for your strength and natural flight ability."

"Whoa, flying?" Xander asked, looking over at the blurry photo of what actually looked like him holding on to the underside of a giant plane. "I… me… oh god…"

"We have the footage as well if you'd like to see it," Daniel added helpfully as Carter opened her laptop on the table.

"I'd… I've got to go, get home, somehow…" Xander trailed off as he tried to figure out how exactly he was going to get back to Sunnydale from New York, they were literally on other sides of the country, thousands of miles away from where he should have been right now.

"We've still got some questions if you wouldn't mind," Carter asked hopefully, knowing full well there was no way they were going to restrain him if he did decide that he wanted to leave, the broken handcuffs on his wrists proved evident of that. "Like how strong are you, how do you fly like that, are you an alien like Superman in the comics or… well, basic things like that."

"Strong? Fly? I'm not Superman alright," Xander breathed out, looking down at the handcuffs on his wrists. "I'm just the research boy alright, get the doughnuts and help with the reading, I'm not Superman." He said the last quietly. "I just got the costume for Halloween, figured it'd be nice to dress like a hero for a bit."

"Supe… Xander, you saved all the people on that plane tonight, myself included." Daniel said with a smile. "You're a hero; all the news shows are calling you one, sticking with the name Superman as well by the looks of things."

"News shows?" Xander asked in shock, his eyes widening at this bit of information.

"The story broke on national news before we managed to deal with it," Carter admitted with a small smile. "We thought you were an alien like we've dealt with before, that's why we were called in to talk to you."

"Wait… Hold on, you're telling me you've dealt with aliens before?" Xander asked in shock, his mouth hanging open for a minute as he processed this bit of information.

"We assumed that's how you came to earth, because normal humans don't have those kinds of powers." Daniel explained. "Is it possible you crashed here as an infant, like in the Superman comics?"

"No," Xander shook his head slowly. "Born and bred on earth," He snorted out a bit of laugher. "No matter how much I'd like to think otherwise."

"Then how do you…" Carter trailed off as the door opened and Jack marched back in. "Sir, we're just talking about Xander's origins."

"So, how's Superman holding up?" Jack asked with a smirk towards Xander, his eyes flicking between him and Carter now wondering if Xander had peeked with his x-ray vision, if he even had the power. "Say, do you have the rest of the set as well?" Jack asked off the cuff. "You know, heat vision, super speed, oh how about x-ray vision?" He noticed Carter shift awkwardly in her seat as he mentioned that part of his powers.

"What?" Xander barked out a snort of laughed. "Oh I wish, that'd be so cool." He laughed again as he stood up from the desk. "I don't even know how I did the handcuff thing, as for flying or catching a plane…" He trailed off as Carter moved the laptop around so he could see it and played the footage that had been broadcast on the news earlier that night.

"It's still being broadcast nationwide," Carter explained as she watched him watching the video, entranced in what it was showing.

"Probably worldwide by now," Jack added with a shrug. "The news vans are still camped outside waiting to get a quote or a picture of you, biggest news event since Reagan's visit to Moscow."

"Oh god," Xander muttered as he sank back down into the chair, unable to tear his eyes away from where he was still watching what appeared to be himself, catching a burning plane in mid-air and flying it through the night with ease. "I should call someone, let… let them know I'm alright." He finished quietly to himself, thinking idly that they were all busy trying to contain whatever other mess had spilled over during Halloween, if he had been changed like this by his costume, then there were god only knows how many other people just like him around Sunnydale.

"OK, give us the number and we'll make the call for you." Jack said with a shrug. "Parents right, girlfriend?"

"I'd uh… Can I make the call myself?" Xander said slowly, now actually wanting to call his parents for anything, the only other person he could actually think of calling was Giles, but he didn't have his number.

"I'm sure you can call someone in a bit right Jack?" Daniel half asked, turning to face Jack fully. "You're not a prisoner here, he's not right?" He asked the last at Jack, hoping that he wasn't going to be wrong on this part.

"Look, I'll be straight with you alright," Jack said as he sat back down at the table, gesturing for Xander to take a seat as well. "You caused a mess tonight, saving the plane was cool, I'd have probably done the same thing if I had your powers, but being caught on film, and with the mess and all…" Jack trailed off, gesturing around with his hands. "There's the police outside, reporters, politicians, that woman you've already been speaking too, which reminds me, we'll need some non-discloser agreements for everyone you've spoken to so far."

"Look, this is all just some misunderstanding alright, I should really…" Xander trailed off as he stood back up.

"Sit," Jack said instantly, the order came out of his mouth before it even registered to him who he was giving the order to, he was even more surprised when the Superman on the other side of the table sat down sharply and froze in place. "Look kid, I didn't mean to… you just caught me off guard alright, tell you the truth, I'm not sure what we're supposed to do with you here." He breathed out in frustration and ran his hand through his hair. "From what everything's telling me, you're some sort of superhero that flies around in a cape with powers that I can't even dream of having. Now the brass want answers, the press and guys from City Hall want to know what we're going to do with you, and frankly I haven't the faintest idea what the hell to tell any of them."

"Colonel," Mike said to catch everyone's attention as he poked his head around the door, knocking on it after he spoke. "Can I…" He trailed off, gesturing for the Colonel to join him outside.

"I'll just be a minute," O'Neill said with a nod to Carter and Xander before standing up. "If either of you have any ideas, feel free to bounce them around while I'm gone." He said as he walked out to see the Deputy Mayor. "What?" He asked impatiently as he closed the door behind him and turned to face the politician.

"You'll want to see this," Mike explained, gesturing for the Colonel to follow him to the side of the hanger where a small TV was already on with Nikki stood alongside. "The reporters must have beaten us to the security footage. The guards have the guy that was on duty, but he's claiming the tape must have been swiped in the confusion."

"Tape?" O'Neill asked with a frown as they walked over, catching sight of what was being shown on the TV. "Tell me it isn't…"

"'Fraid so," Mike nodded as he gestured for Nikki to turn the volume up again, the news broadcaster already commenting on the grainy security footage they were showing.

"This is the fourth channel I've found showing the same tape," Nikki explained as the security footage ran in the background with the broadcaster talking over it. "It was taken from the end pylon from the runway, normally just a precaution to check on landing procedures, the control tower has a live feed to make sure the runway is cleared for take-off and landings, but no one thought to check it in all the commotion."

"Great," O'Neill muttered, dragging his hand down his face as the security footage ran, it was grainy and obviously zoomed in in processing, but as the news broadcaster paused the footage to talk, he could easily make out the kid's uniform and face on the underside of the plane he was landing.

"That'll be the picture on every newspaper come morning," Mike nodded, tapping on the TV screen. "They have his face; the costume isn't exactly low key. The FAA will be investigating the plane when they arrive, and their reports will be public once cleared through the official channels."

"We'll take care of the plane," O'Neill nodded back; glad they at least had a heads-up on this now. "I'll call up the chain and get the FAA to hold off until we've cleared it." He explained, planning another call to General Hammond in his near future.

"We're going to have to do something about the reporters," Nikki said, bringing attention back to her. "The guards tell me there's more arriving every hour, they're already having trouble controlling them, if they get through, it won't be long until they figure out where we're keeping the kid and get in here too."

"Hate to agree with you," O'Neill nodded thoughtfully. "Fine, we'll get him on board our jet and go from there. We can talk with him on board and work out what to do with everything from there."

"That only creates more problems," Mike said with a frown. "They already have the story and footage of his face, wherever you fly him, he's going to be recognised and have reporters chasing him for the story."

"And what do you suggest?" O'Neill asked sharply, turning back to Mike for an explanation.

"We let them run with it," Mike nodded. "We can't put a spin on it if you take him and hide him away god knows where." He explained. "They're either going to want a story, or an explanation, probably both. But if he just vanishes, then they're just going to keep running with it and asking us every chance they get. The genie is out Colonel, whether the military like it or not."

"Fine," O'Neill said thoughtfully. "I'll see what we need to do with the kid, but until we know what we're dealing with here, the official word is 'no comment'."

"I'll make sure my guys stick with that." Mike nodded as he pulled out his own cell phone, O'Neill doing the same as he walked away from him.

"General Hammond," O'Neill said as he walked away, heading away from the politicians so he could speak freely for the moment.

"You have something?" General Hammond's voice came back over the line.

"Just a situation sir," O'Neill said with a frown. "We're trying to figure out what to do here; I've just been told the press already have footage of the kid landing the plane. It's grainy, but it'd be a good bet that his face is going to be all over the papers come morning."

"Do you have any chance of keeping a lid on this Colonel?" Hammond asked hopefully.

"None sir," O'Neill answered simply. "The footage is already running on the news channels, if it's not in the run for the morning editions now, it will be soon. We're running out of options here sir, and the ones left aren't looking too good for any of us."

"What are you thinking?" General Hammond asked, hoping that they could at least salvage some security around this problem now.

"Personally I'd load the kid back on the jet and get as far from here as possible," O'Neill explained. "But they've got his face in video, if what the kid is saying is true, and he had a normal life before this and… well, putting it bluntly sir, it's over for him."

"Do we have an explanation for how Mr Harris is able to do these things Colonel?" General Hammond's voice came back after a moment's pause.

"None yet sir," O'Neill shook his head. "We're going to have to go through a lot of talks to get the kid to trust us. At the moment he's twitchy at best, if he wants to get away from us, I'd rather not be in the middle of a flight if he decides to bolt."

"Understandable Colonel," General Hammond said in agreement. "I'll get in touch with Mitchel Base; I'll have the site made available to you for as long as you need."

"Thank you General," O'Neill nodded thoughtfully. "I'd rather keep this low key, but I don't see many options here."

"Me neither son," General Hammond said thoughtfully. "Transfer Mr Harris to Mitchel, I'll have Major Davis work out the paperwork to clear out some areas while we work through this."

"Appreciated General," O'Neill nodded.

"And Colonel," General Hammond called his attention back to the cell phone. "If we do have a real life Superhero on our hands here, I want to know why this is the first time we're hearing about it."

"You and me both sir," O'Neill nodded before closing the phone and heading back towards the Deputy Mayor.

"You first," Mike said with a nod, tapping his own cell against his hand.

"We're transferring the kid over to Mitchel Base, we're having it cleared out and secured so we can use it for discussion and to work out what the hell we're going to do here." O'Neill explained.

"The Mayor's been fielding calls from the Governor; pressure's coming down from high up to give them an explanation for this." Mike explained his call. "He's at City Hall now with our Press Secretary, but we're going to have to give them a story soon or they'll run with whatever they've got and accuse us of covering it up."

"The Governor, already?" O'Neill asked with a frown, he knew that General Hammond would have already been dealing with calls from the President, but hadn't pictured Governor's trying to get a piece of the story as well. "General Hammond will be contacting the Mayor soon enough, we'll set up joint talks between your guy and ours. But for now, we're going to be keeping this as low key as possible."

"And the kid?" Mike asked curiously. "He's the real deal right?"

"I won't comment on that until I know the full story," O'Neill groused out. "Once we're at Mitchel Base, I'll see what else the kid has to say about all of this." He explained before walking back towards the office area where Carter and Daniel were still inside with the teenage Superman. "Just keep the press off our backs and let us deal with this." He shouted back over his shoulder as he approached the door and walked through, closing it behind him.

"Colonel?" Carter asked, standing up from her chair to check with O'Neill what was going on.

"We're taking a trip," O'Neill nodded over. "The General has cleared us to operate out of Mitchel Base, it'll be more secure and easier for us to talk this out without the press yapping at our feet."

"Can I make a call first?" Xander asked, flicking his eyes between Jack and Carter. "And a change of clothes would be good."

"Don't want to go out there in the tights again?" Jack asked with a grin.

"Bit embarrassing," Xander admitted shyly.

"Ok, Carter, see if you can rustle up a change of clothes for Xander here, try lost property or something." Jack ordered, smiling to himself as Carter nodded before moving out of the room quietly. "There's a phone in the next room, Daniel will come with, not to listen in or anything, just to make sure the politicians don't bug you or anything."

"Thank you," Xander said with a small smile.

"Hey, should be us thanking you kid," Jack smiled back. "Might want to get a cloth or something as well, see if you can get that burnt rubber off your face."

"What?" Xander asked, his hands immediately flying to his face to feel where the burnt rubber tread mark had lined up the right side of his face. "You could have told me." He glared over at both Jack and Daniel as he rubbed at his face to try and clean off the mark.

"Thought you knew." Jack shrugged back. "Go, call whoever you need. I'll arrange for transport to Mitchel."

"I'll show you the way," Daniel smiled as he opened the door, leading the way for Xander to follow him out of the room.

"You did good tonight kid," Jack said by way of parting as Xander paused at the doorway. "I saw the trajectory, if you hadn't have caught that plane there's no telling how many people would have died." He said with a smile and a sloppy two finger salute. "Good job."

"Uh, thanks," Xander said, blushing at the praise before he headed out of the room and closed the door behind him.

* * *

Buffy jogged down the stairs lightly as the phone rang, she was already on her way down to get a glass of juice from the kitchen so she just paused by the table and picked up the receiver with a smile. "Summers residence." She said with a small bounce, checking her hair in the mirror on the wall by the table as she did so.

"Buffy, thank god."

"Xander, oh my god, we were looking everywhere for you, Willow's been worried sick." Buffy gasped out as she grabbed the phone with both hands. "Were you, did you see, the news, was that… was that you?"

"I think it might have been," Xander's voice came back softly.

"OH my god! You flew, I'm like so jealous right now Xander!" Buffy squealed out. "Willow is going to have a fit when you tell her, where are you anyway, last time I saw you was at school, then with the madness and everything…"

"It's a long story," Xander breathed out in frustration.

"I can tell," Buffy laughed as she flicked on the TV, to her amusement they were still talking about the 'Superman' from tonight's adventures. "Ohh, you're on TV again, they're calling you a superhero, I never get called a hero." Buffy pouted as she sat down and tried to listen to what the TV was saying as well as talk to Xander at the same time.

"Buffy, um, do you have Giles' number?" Xander asked hesitantly.

"Uh, sure, I guess," Buffy said after a moment, flicking through the address book by the phone where she'd wrote it in already if she ever needed it. "What'd ya want to talk to Giles for?"

"It's… it's complicated, I just kinda need some advice here." Xander answered, not wanting to worry Buffy, and by extension Willow, any more than he had already.

"Sure, ok, guy stuff," Buffy shrugged it off as she found the number. "Ok, got a pen or something."

"Uh, yeah, hold on…" Xander said before another voice could be heard for a few moments then the phone was picked back up again. "Right, got it."

"Seven seven oh, five five five, two two one nine," Buffy rattled off the number she had written down. "Got it?"

"Yeah, thanks," Xander said after rereading the number and making sure he had it right.

"Anytime," Buffy shrugged as she closed the address book again. "You should probably call Willow ya'know, let her know you're alright and all."

"I will, after I've spoken to Giles." Xander said quickly. "Thanks though."

* * *

Giles looked up from the letter and pictures that he'd brought home after checking Buffy and Willow were safe, still really unsure what to tell any of them about this or if it was even real. Ethan was now resting upstairs in his apartment, obviously the physical and mental stresses of temporal relocation and then performing the possession ritual for Janus had taken their toll on his aged body. Half of him was still hoping this was some nightmare that he was experiencing and would wake up from soon, but the shrill ring of the telephone from his desk sadly said otherwise. "Hello?" He asked, picking up the phone with a sigh.

"Giles?" Xander asked hesitantly.

"Xander?" Giles asked back, relieved to have actually had some contact from him, after going through Ethan's letter a few times, and watching the news broadcasts on the TV, it was sadly obvious to him that Ethan's story, along with the letters and photos, obviously held some grain of truth to them.

"It's me Giles," Xander breathed out a sigh, glad that he had actually got through to Giles at last.

"Xander thank god," Giles sighed, sitting down in his chair next to the phone. "Is everything alright?" He asked subtly, not wanting to scare the young man in case what Ethan had told him hadn't come to pass.

"Uh, kinda not," Xander answered hesitantly. "I, uh… I think I'm in some trouble here Giles."

"Of what sort?" Giles asked, raising his eyebrow and hoping the implication in his voice told Xander what he actually needed to know without verbalising it for anyone around him to hear.

"I've already spoke to Buffy, she gave me your number." Xander said, confirming to Giles that it wasn't a demonic or Slayer related problem but he still needed his help with something.

"Very well, I will do what I can for you, what exactly do you need help with?" Giles asked cautiously.

"Did… have you seen the news?" Xander asked softly, wincing involuntarily in case Giles shouted at him for being caught on camera like that, inwardly he knew that he hadn't been in control of his body at the time and couldn't be held responsible, but he was so used to being shouted at for anything, whether it was his fault or not, that he always shied back from talks like this with anyone.

"I have," Giles nodded. "Though the footage I saw was quite bad, am I to assume that that was indeed you?"

"If you mean the plane thing, then a big tick in that column," Xander said apologetically.

"I see," Giles breathed out, idly cleaning his glasses against his shirt as he glanced over to the letter and photos on his table and tried to picture how he was actually going to tell the young man that he'd actually done this to himself.

"I… I'm here with the Air Force Giles," Xander said, deciding not to delay the point of the call any longer. "I'm guessing they have a lot of questions and stuff to ask, and I'm… I don't really know what to say about it all."

"I see," Giles said in shock, wondering if the future Xander and Ethan had actually thought of any of these events that would spiral on from their costume fiasco.

"There's something else Giles," Xander bit his lip in worry as he approached the bits of news that went with the first bit. "I uh, I broke some handcuffs, metal ones, they couldn't find the key so I… you know, broke them?"

"Good lord, you mean to say…" Giles trailed off.

"Kinda freaking out here myself Giles, please don't you go off the deep end as well." Xander said into the phone, hope tingeing his voice that Giles wouldn't freak out on him; he was only holding it together so far because he was pretty sure he was still in shock over everything.

"Yes, yes of course." Giles said after a moment, gathering his thoughts together to try and piece together what he was actually being told and what he could do about the situation.

"I'm kinda lost out here as well," Xander breathed out in frustration. "New York?

"Yes, the news have been reporting the situation there regularly, though I confess I had hoped that you wouldn't be confirming that you are out there." Giles breathed out in frustration as he took off his glasses in an effort to actually glare down the phone at Xander.

"Sorry," Xander defended himself. "I just… I'm on the other side of the country Giles, no money, no clothes..."

"Would you like me to speak to him?" A second voice came over the line this time, one Giles didn't recognise, after a few moments and some muffled noise the voice continued. "Ah, hello, this is Doctor Daniel Jackson."

"Rupert Giles." Giles returned the introduction politely. "I can assume that Xander is being treated correctly?"

"He's fine," Daniel replied. "Xander has agreed to answer some further questions, since he informed us that you are his emergency contact, we'd like to talk to you as well if that would be possible."

"Ah, yes, more questions you say?" Giles asked with a raised eyebrow. "Though New York is quite a distance from where I am now."

"Yes, I take it you're in Sunnydale was it?" Daniel asked, though the question was posed to Xander instead of Giles as Xander's reply of 'yes' beat Giles to it. "Does Sunnydale have an airport?" Another question that Xander answered 'yes' to.

"I'm sorry, are you asking me to fly out to New York this evening?" Giles asked over the line, calling Daniel's attention back to the phone call.

"Yes, sorry, it would be useful if you could. We could send a jet to pick you up; I'm sure one of my team members would be happy to come down to travel back up with you." Daniel explained. "It would help Xander a lot if you were here for him," Daniel explained quickly. "He asked for you by name, so I assume that you are his guardian or something."

"Something," Giles muttered out, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Of course Xander couldn't call his parents, not if he had in fact kept the powers of last night's possession like Ethan had claimed the idea was, and since he was the only adult out of the group with knowledge of the supernatural, it was natural that Xander would have turned to him for help. "Yes, tell Xander I shall come as asked."

"I'm glad to hear it," Daniel smiled back over the line. "It appears Xander is quite relieved by the news as well."

"I can imagine," Giles muttered wryly. "I will have someone else with me to help, I hope that is alright?" He asked, thinking that it would be much easier for Ethan to explain his side of the story to Xander, rather than have himself try and jumble through what he knew piece by piece.

"I'll have to let you know, it shouldn't be long though, can I contact you on this number once I have the arrangements?" Daniel asked hopefully.

"Of course," Giles nodded, rubbing his eyes, wondering if now was a good time to start making some fresh coffee before he had to leave for the airport.

"Then I shall talk to you soon," Daniel said with a small smile.

"Thanks Giles!" Xander's voice shouted over the line.

"Do try and keep him under some semblance of control, tell him I shall see him soon and not to worry." Giles said with a small smile, reassuring only to himself before he placed the phone back on the cradle and sank back into the armchair, looking over at the pile of papers on his table, the alien weapons, and the black Superman uniform on the floor. "Good lord." He whispered to himself, rubbing his face wearily as he stood up from the chair and got ready to rouse Ethan for the trip.

* * *

"CJ," Leo frowned as he knocked on CJ's door, he'd already collected Sam, so CJ was next on his list of people the President would need to see.

"Leo," CJ half smiled. "Are you watching this?" She asked, gesturing to the TV that was showing the repeated footage of Superman landing the plane, the footage had been cleaned up slightly and zoomed in, but it was obviously still low quality security camera footage from the runway terminal.

"I know about it," Leo nodded. "The President needs to see you." He said before moving off, Sam hanging behind for a few moments to walk with CJ before they both moved off to follow Leo.

"What's going on?" Sam asked quietly, walking alongside CJ as they followed Leo.

"Don't look at me," CJ shrugged. "Do you know anything about this thing on the news?"

"Just what I heard people talking about," Sam admitted with a shrug. "I figured it was some sort of publicity stunt or something."

"That's what I thought at first," CJ explained. "Wait, Leo, where are we going?" She asked, realising they'd been following Leo away from the main White House area and down to the far side of the building.

"In here," Leo said simply as he led the two into a room where two guards were stationed outside, they opened the doors and stood there crisply as Leo led them both inside.

"The situation room," Sam said as he walked in behind Leo. "Mr President." He said with a nod.

"Sam, CJ, sit down," President Bartlet said with a nod, indicating to the empty table where Leo had walked around to start arranging papers.

"Mr President, should we be in here?" CJ asked, looking around. Normally the situation room was reserved for high ranking officials and people that had military clearance, not White House staff like Sam and herself.

"Normally, no," Leo explained, shaking his head slowly. "But this is somewhat of an unusual situation."

"To say the least." President Bartlet nodded as he finished off Leo's thought. "I assume both of you are familiar with what's been happening in New York?"

"Superman?" Sam asked hesitantly. "It's not a publicity stunt then?" He asked with wide eyes.

"If that were only the case," Leo half smiled as he laid out two sets of papers on the table and slid them across to Sam and CJ with a pen each. "Non-discloser agreements, I know you've already signed some when we first started working here, but these are different."

"What, are you letting us in on some big secret?" CJ laughed it off as she looked at the papers. "Oh my god, you're letting us in on some big secret." She said aloud when she realised Leo was serious.

"The biggest," President Bartlet said with a nod. "So if you'd sign them, we can get down to business."

"Yes sir," Sam said quickly, flicking through them and noting the same NDA papers he was familiar with from signing a dozen times over already. He read a few paragraphs before signing his name at the bottom with a flourish, noting the CJ was doing the same in a hurried squiggle.

"First things first, the Superman you saw on the news and have heard people talking about," Leo said with a frown. "It's real. It's not a hoax, and it's not some publicity stunt for a new movie. We've confirmed this through contacts at the major studios; all deny any knowledge of pulling anything like this off."

"Then what…" CJ started to ask but President Bartlet cut her off.

"I asked the two of you here because of his public arrival," President Bartlet explained. "The first public arrival of an alien species on Earth, and the news networks have pictures and video of it before we even knew it was happening." President Bartlet said with a frown.

"This… this is really happening?" Sam asked in shock.

"You wouldn't be here otherwise." Leo responded simply.

"I'm still not exactly sure what we're dealing with here." Sam said, hoping to find some explanation as to what they were here to talk about.

"Aliens," President Bartlet said simply before nodding at Leo, who in turn turned on the large screen to the back of the room. "General Hammond, thank you for waiting." He said with a smile as everyone turned to the video call being displayed on the large screen where the radar information had been displayed moments before.

"My pleasure Mr President," General Hammond said with a nod, as a large coloured man with a gold tattoo on his forehead bowed deeply from behind him.

"This is CJ Craig, the White House Press Secretary," Leo explained. "And Sam Seaborn, our deputy communications director."

"Pleasure to meet you both," General Hammond nodded at them both in turn. "This is Teal'c." He explained, nodding to the large coloured man stood behind him.

"I'll leave you both to get acquainted," President Bartlet said, standing up from the table. "I'll be in the oval office when you're done." He said with a nod before collecting his jacket and leaving the room, letting the security guards close the door behind him.

"What's going on Leo?" Sam asked, turning to where the White House Chief of Staff was sat patiently in his chair.

"General Hammond," Leo said with a nod, waving his hand towards the screen.

"Thank you Mr McGarry, I would normally have Doctor Jackson here to explain this, though as you can imagine, he's with my primary team in New York to investigate the matter personally." General Hammond nodded before continuing, reading off a sheet of paper he had prepared in front of him. "In nineteen twenty eight, a team of archaeologists uncovered an ancient artefact in Egypt, called the Stargate…" General Hammond explained.

* * *

"These were all I could find sir, hopefully some of them…" Carter came back in the room and dropped the two carrier bags she had in her arms instantly, the sight before her was too much for her scientific mind to process at once.

There was Xander, still clad head to toe in the same Superman outfit she had left him in, sat on one side of the table, arm wrestling, or attempting to arm wrestle both Jack and Daniel at the same time. Though from the sight she was seeing it appeared they were doing all the work, as Daniel was comfortably sat down on the chair, using one arm to try and force Xander's arm down in a typical arm wrestling match, Jack on the other hand was stood up at the head of the table, both his hands gripped around Xander's wrist as he used all his leverage and weight to try and pull the arm down towards the table.

"Incredible," She breathed out as she moved across to actually see what was actually happening. While Jack and Daniel were pulling on Xander's arm, she could see from a closer angle that he wasn't actually sat on the chair; instead he was using his legs as leverage on the floor so the chair wasn't pulled out from under him like it would have been normally.

"Get in on this Carter," Jack groused as he tried a different angle to try and get Xander's arm to move an inch. "We've been at this ten minutes and can't get him to budge."

"Sir, we do have footage of him catching a passenger carrier, even with our combined weight and muscle; we can't equal even a fraction of the weight or sheer mass that the Colson carrier would have forced against his body." Carter explained the physics easily, but the actual sight of the small teen arm wrestling two grown men to a standstill had her beat.

"Yeah yeah, I get that, it's fun though," Jack grinned at her before he grunted again in frustration as he forced ever bit of muscle and weight he had on Xander's arm.

"Jack thought it would be a good experiment to see if the strength was as much as the video made it out to be." Daniel explained with a roll of his eyes.

"We can do more scientific tests at the Mitchel base sir," Carter surprised the urge to roll her eyes at the antics before her, instead focusing her mind on what she could actually test him for when they got him back to the base.

"Ohh, clothes?" Xander asked, his concentration slipping for a moment and allowing Jack to pull his arm down with a bang against the table. "Aww, no fair, that's cheating."

"Says the man who bench presses planes for a work out," Jack grinned at him.

"There should be something in here that will fit," Carter explained as she picked up the two plastic bags and put them on the table. "I'll… I'll just wait outside sir." She said with a small smile before heading out of the room and closing the door behind her.

"Jeans, t-shirt, flannel?" Xander asked in amusement as he pulled out a red and white chequered shirt that he could see a lumberjack being comfortable in. "I'm not exactly the farm boy type." He muttered, still thankful for any type of clothing though.

"Beggars can't be choosers," Jack said with a small smirk.

"Guess not," Xander said as he rummaged through the rest of the clothes, leaving the jeans and t-shirt out already, there was nothing much else in the bags that would fit him, the rest were either too small or too big.

"So, Xander, what's it been like, growing up I mean?" Daniel asked as Xander started to wrestle the skin tight Lycra top of the outfit that was attached to the cape over his head and off of his body. "Let me get that for you." He said as he stood up and helped pull the top over Xander's head and down his arms.

"Thanks," Xander breathed out as he threw the tight lycra top that had turned inside out from pulling it off onto the table.

"It must have been tough I guess, growing up with this level of strength, constantly worrying that you could break or injure anyone around you." Daniel explained his earlier question, causing Xander to turn his full attention back to him.

"I… I didn't grow up like this," Xander answered honestly. "I'm just normal alright, the guy without special powers or anything."

"I'll… I've got to make a call." Jack said suddenly, leaving the room and practically slamming the door behind him.

"What's with him?" Xander asked, worried at the sudden change in mood he'd just witnessed.

"No clue," Daniel answered honestly. "Do you, uh, need help with those as well?" He asked, motioning to the tights and red underwear that made up the bottom half of the costume.

"I'll wear them under the jeans." Xander decided after a moment, while he was definitely wearing boxers underneath the tights and underwear, he didn't fancy the indignity of trying to pull them off, or having to ask Daniel for help in actually getting the last part of the costume off.

Thankfully the boots came away easily, so he threw them on the desk with the top half of the costume before grabbing the jeans and sliding them on.

* * *

"Colonel?" Carter asked from where she was stood away from the door, idly doing some numbers in her head to see if she could actually calculate the extent of Xander's strength that he had shown so far.

"Not now Carter." Jack muttered as he strode out, pulling his cell phone out and dialling a number from memory as he paced around the hanger.

"Sir, is everything alright?" Carter asked from the back of the room, she'd followed him in instinctively, worrying about him. She'd only seen Colonel O'Neill's dark side come out rarely before, and it had always involved children before, like when his 'son' had returned with help from the crystal aliens on P3X-562 and their latest encounter with the Goa'uld and what they did to Cassandra.

"No Carter, something is definitely not alright." O'Neill groused as he waited for his call to be answered. "Finally, patch me through to Sergeant Benson, security Indigo Alpha November, one niner niner eight." He continued pacing as the phone line went dead a second time as he was transferred to his requested line. "Sergeant, I need a full background run. Medical history, the works." Jack barked down the line. "Xander Harris, not sure on the first name, possibly Alexander or something, try everything you think of. Born Sunnydale California, around nineteen eighty, eighty one, give or take a few years, no older than seventeen though. Send everything over to Mitchel Base, my eyes only." Without waiting for a reply he hung up, gripping the phone as if he was ready to throw it before putting it back in his uniform pocket, all the while practically glaring through the wall towards the room where Daniel and Xander were still inside.

"Sir?" Carter asked quietly, waiting for an explanation.

"His body Carter," Jack started, dragging his hand over his face. "I've seen those marks before, the bruising wasn't there, but the scars were."

"Are you saying…" Carter trailed off as she waiting for Jack to finish off for her.

"Charlie's friend, Johnny, he had the same marks." Jack said quietly. "I only saw them at Charlie's eighth birthday party; he spilt a coke down his top, so we put it in the wash while he borrowed one of Charlie's."

"He'd been abused." Carter said, lowering her head slightly.

"Didn't say anything when I asked him about it, but I could see it, his eyes told me he wanted to ask for help but was afraid to." Jack explained. "Only time I ever lost my temper outside of base, took down the kids dad with my bare hands."

"Did it help?" Carter asked quietly.

"Him, yeah, never saw the guy again, took off and told him that if I ever saw him again I'd put a bullet through his skull." Jack said calmly, like he was discussing dinner arrangements or something.

"And you think Xander has been abused like Charlie's friend had?" Carter asked quietly, it was rare for Jack to talk about Charlie or his past in any great length; he often went to lengths to actually avoid talking about it.

"Scar on his right side, and again a few inches further up," Jack pointed to the side of his body where he had seen the marks on Xander. "Belt buckle, I'd bet my hockey stick on it." He turned sharply to show Carter his other side. "Curved scar here, and point here." He pointed to two points just above his hip. "Heel of a boot, possibly the corner of one, probably broke the kid's hip at one point or another."

"It could be anything sir, it doesn't mean…" Carter stopped as Jack interrupted her with a glare.

"I know the signs Carter, he flinches whenever I raise my voice, you saw the look in his eyes when I shouted sit at him earlier, he was terrified of me." Jack sighed to himself and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "Kid can bench press a jet and he's scared of me."

"Do you think he'll talk about it?" Carter asked quietly, not wanting the guards outside to hear what they were talking about.

"Daniel maybe, you, doubt it, me, not a chance in hell." Jack shook his head as Carter looked at him questioningly. "He's a teenage boy Carter, you're a grown woman, he's not going to talk to you about being hit or things his dad did to him." He explained at her look. "He's too scared of me now to say anything, even if he wanted to."

"Maybe one of the doctor's at the base could talk to him, it might help." Carter suggested, not knowing what else to say.

"I'll tell you what Carter, there's no way I'm letting him go back there, not if that's the sort of life he's got to look forward to." Jack said firmly, almost daring her to argue with him on this one. "Kids a bona fide hero, god knows how he ended up like that with that happening to him."

"What are we doing about his guardian then?" Carter asked after a moment's pause. "Daniel said a Mister Giles was flying out to meet us with someone else."

"Probably a family friend," Jack mused. "Someone he trusts, doubt he would have gone to the person that did that to him in the middle of this mess."

"Could they know who Xander's abuser is?" Carter asked, trying to picture what exactly Jack was planning now, she could see the cogs turning in his mind but couldn't actually see what he was planning.

"I hope so Carter, I really do." Jack said before he stood back up and made his was out of the office back towards the room where Daniel and Xander were still waiting for them.

* * *

Getting through the news crews had actually been a lot easier than any of them had thought it would have been, simply 'borrowing' one of the guards jacket, hat and sidearm belt, they'd dressed Xander up to look like a model cadet.

He'd come up with the idea of carrying Carter's bags and walking behind them, so it looked like he was just another soldier traipsing after the upper brass, a gopher of sorts for the Colonel and his team.

The news crews were so convinced of it they hadn't given any of them a second look when they'd strode through the cordoned area to the car, even Jack had been convinced when Xander held the doors open for them all and placed Carter's bags in the trunk of the car without being asked. Then they'd simply driven away, out of the airport and onto the main streets, leaving the news crews still trying to get their story at the airport.

"This… this is… wow…" Xander breathed out as he looked around the large car that the Deputy Mayor had arranged for them.

"It's not ours, so careful with seats." Jack smirked over at him.

"Right, treat everything like it's made out of glass, gotcha." Xander nodded, holding up his hands in a mock surrender pose.

"The jet should be on its way to pick up Mr Giles now," Daniel explained as he sat down next to Xander, O'Neill and Carter sitting opposite them facing away from the driver. "He should be meeting us at Mitchel once he's flown out. It's quite a trip from LA to New York, but he'll be here as soon as he can."

"I'm sure you'll cope for a few hours right kid?" Jack smiled over, watching Xander fidget with the seatbelt to get himself buckled up as the car drove through the city streets.

"Do you mind if I ask you some more questions while we drive?" Carter asked hopefully. "I have some questions about your powers that hopefully you'll be able to answer."

"No demonstrations though," Jack interrupted, smiling disarmingly across at Xander. "No heat vision things or x-ray vision, I don't need to wind up impotent or anything because of you alright?"

"I'm sure that's not how his x-ray vision works sir," Carter said, smiling back at Xander.

"I don't even know if I can do that," Xander said honestly. "And the heat thing, I wouldn't have a clue how to do it even if I could."

"See, now that's a good thing," Jack smiled over. "Don't need to be buying a new car for the Mayor after cutting it in half with lasers from your eyes or anything." He laughed along with Sam but Xander just seemed to chuckle along nervously.

As the car drove through the streets Xander was watching nervously out of the window, he'd barely been out of Sunnydale his entire life, and while he'd seen New York on the TV and in movies, he'd never thought he'd actually be there to see the sky scrapers and Statue of Liberty himself, even if he was currently being taken away to a military base to answer questions about his newfound freakdom.

Looking at the other three people travelling with him, he was actually surprised to find he was actually getting on with them all quite well. The oldest one, Jack, or 'sir' as the blonde woman kept referring to him as, seemed to be the one most like him, a sense of humour but willing to cut through the tough questions to get things done.

Daniel reminded him a lot of Willow and Giles, the sort of moral center of the group. He was the most friendly and welcoming of the three and had gone out of his way to help by answering questions or trying to get him anything he needed.

The blonde woman, Carter, he'd caught Daniel call her Sam as well, seemed to be the brains of the bunch. Smart, obviously some sort of scientist, but equally at home with the military and around guns, she was the hardest to place, though it didn't hurt that she was amazingly beautiful, he had to curse his luck at finding strong willed attractive blondes everywhere he went, he smiled to himself as he figured it must be like his kryptonite or something.

"So, can we start with something simple?" Carter asked hopefully looking across the car to Xander.

"Uh, sure, I guess." Xander answered with a shrug.

"The flying, is it an act of willpower, or more a physical muscle for you to control altitude and direction?" Carter asked.

"Whatnow?" Xander asked, bewildered by her 'simple' question.

"I think he needs something a bit easier to start with Sam," Daniel chuckled at her.

"I mean to say, is your flying based on something you control with your mind, or is it like a muscle, like your leg or arm?" Carter rephrased the question.

"I have no idea," Xander answered honestly. "I don't even know if I can even do it again, let alone explain how I did it or do it I guess."

"That's alright; we can come back to that one." Carter smiled over at him. "Your strength."

"Yeah, the arm wrestling thing, that was kinda fun." Xander admitted with a smile as he saw Jack smiling over with him.

"Toldya," Jack grinned over at him, fishing a pack of playing cards out of his jacket pocket to start playing solitaire to pass the time, leaving Xander alone to answer the questions that had undoubtedly been bubbling up inside Carter since she first saw the news broadcast.

"Actually sir, could I…" Carter asked, holding out her hand for the deck of cards he was holding.

"You want to play?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Just a quick test." Carter smiled as Jack handed the deck over. "Now, I want you to put them in order as fast as you can alright, simply hand eye coordination test should be able to give us a rough read on your speed." She explained as she shuffled the deck in her hands a few times to make sure it was thoroughly randomised before passing the deck over to him.

"I guess," Xander shrugged as he eyed the deck cautiously.

"I'll time you, so when I say go; put them in order as quick as you can alright?" Carter explained, moving to touch the stopwatch button on her watch when she was ready, even Jack was looking over in interest at this test. "Ok, go." She said, quickly pressing the button on her watch.

Jack barely had time to blink as Xander's hands blurred into motion, moving far too fast for the eye to see, everything from his forearms down to the cards was just a blur for a few seconds before the deck was neatly laid out on the seat between him and Daniel in four neat piles.

As soon as Carter registered the four piles of cards she pressed her watch again. "Two point six seconds." She read off in amazement as Daniel turned over the first pile of cards.

"Sorry, got confused half way through," Xander admitted shyly. "Got clubs and spades mixed up so I had to start those two piles again." He explained tapping on the last two piles of the set.

"He's got them," Daniel said with a smile as he turned over all four piles to show the ace of each suit on the bottom of each pile, fanning out the piles evenly to show they were all indeed the same suit and in numerical order.

"Well if the superhero gig goes bust, you could always try Vegas." Jack quipped with a grin.

"I was thinking magic," Xander grinned back. "The hand is faster than the eye and all that?"

"Ah but is it?" Jack asked, leaning across the middle of the car to look at the cards properly. "So, what did that look like to you?"

"Um, me, putting cards in order?" Xander answered slowly.

"In two and a half seconds," Carter reminded him, "Not to mention the time you spent restarting two of the piles because you got confused."

"So call it one and a half seconds," Jack split the difference with a shrug as he sat back in the seat. "Fifty two cards, all in order, from a jumbled deck, in one and a half seconds."

"I don't…" Xander trailed off, looking in amazement at the cards Daniel was checking through.

"I think what Jack is trying to ask is, was everything as fast for you as it was for us, in which case your hand eye coordination and brain are obviously well above normal," Carter explained.

"Or did things slow down for you, like time was passing normal for you but everything else seemed slower?" Daniel finished off, trying not to make the option sound more scientific that Carter would have explained it as.

"The second one," Xander nodded confidently. "I wasn't really paying attention to you guys much, just doing what you asked, but you didn't even move while I was doing it."

"So your entire body sped up in response to what you were doing, your brain, reaction times, eyesight, thought processes, everything moved at the speed needed to complete the task in the shortest amount of time." Carter mused to herself, mentally planning on redoing the experiment back at the base with an EEG hooked up so she could measure what changes actually took place in his brain while he was moving at that speed.

"Uh, am I going to need an encyclopaedia for everything she says?" Xander asked, turning to Jack this time for support.

"Don't look at me, I barely understand half of what she says half the time anyway," Jack shrugged with a smile.

"So we've tested strength already, with you two arm wrestling Xander here, I'd say the speed test was a positive result." Carter mused. "I wouldn't feel comfortable testing any of your vision based powers in close confines, but perhaps when we are at the base we can expand on those some more."

"That sounds like a better idea." Daniel nodded in agreement.

"So, tell us more about Sunnydale." Jack smiled over as he got comfortable in his chair, waiting for Xander to begin his explanation that should cover a most of their drive through to Mitchel Base.

* * *

"Mr President," Leo announced as he knocked on the door of the oval office before pushing it open, Sam and CJ following, both still with shocked expressions on their faces.

"Come in, all of you," President Bartlet said with a nod, standing up from his desk and putting his glasses down. "You look like I did when I first found out about it." He explained with a small smile. "Close the door." He said, nodding to Sam who was still stood by the door in amazement.

"Sorry, yes sir," Sam nodded, shaking his head for a moment before moving back to close the door and then walking into the main room where Leo and President Bartlet were stood.

"Let me," Leo said with a half-smile, moving back to the door and opening it slightly. "Can we get some water and glasses in here?" He asked, looking across at Charlie before turning to Mrs Landingham. "The President is not to be disturbed until we're finished here." He said, turning back to Charlie.

"I've already cleared his schedule for today." Mrs Langdingham said with a smile. "I'll make sure he's not to be disturbed." She explained as Leo nodded thankfully and closed the door to the Oval Office behind him.

"Thoughts?" Leo asked, moving over into the room to sit on the empty couch, while Sam and CJ were sat in stunned silence on the other, with President Bartlet sat in his normal chair at the head of the emblem on the floor.

"I… I don't…" Sam tried to find his voice from where he was simply staring ahead into space.

"Give them a minute Leo," President Bartlet nodded over. "We got to talk between ourselves and hash it out after we learnt the big secret; they've had the walk from the situation room to here to get used to the idea."

"Well there's going to be a lot more people getting used to the idea soon if Superman keeps up his public appearances." Leo groused with a frown. "The news networks are already replaying the footage regularly, by the morning it's a safe bet that the video will be on every channel across the country."

"I imagine such," President Bartlet nodded at the news. "Sam, you with us here?" He asked with a small smile.

"Yes, sorry, sorry Mr President," Sam shook his head to clear the cobwebs.

"Quite alright," President Bartlet waved it off. "I know I had some trouble coming around to the idea of it as well when I was first briefed on the project last year."

"This… this is huge," CJ said in amazement. "How many people know about this?" She asked, looking at Leo.

"The people in this room." Leo explained. "The Joint chiefs of staff, the people involved in the project itself, and a few others. I'll have Toby briefed as soon as I can." He finished off with a nod. "The amount of civilians in the know, I can probably count on one hand." He said with a frown. "Admiral Fitzwallace is on route to the SGC to liaise with General Hammond on this, and Toby is on route to New York to contact the officials there. So far we've got a mess here people, which we're going to have to clean up."

"Is this, is this how he arrived?" Sam asked, putting the pieces together. "Is he one of the aliens out there we've made contact with?"

"No," President Bartlet shook his head. "General Hammond's team are investigating how this character arrived on Earth, though I've been assured several times that it was not through the Stargate."

"This is incredible Mr President," CJ explained her feelings. "Are we going public with this knowledge?" She asked, trying to figure out why she had been brought in on what was obviously the biggest secret around.

"We're not planning anything yet," President Bartlet said, standing up from his chair and pacing around. "What we do know is this alien, Superman if you will, has made this his first public appearance and allowed himself to be photographed with his face and abilities open to the press, making any spin or cover up next to impossible."

"Then why…" Sam started to ask but was cut off.

"Why have I brought you two in?" President Bartlet finished off Sam's sentence. "Because we need to put a spin on this, at the very least, we're looking at public knowledge that aliens exist. The amount of exposure this Superman has managed in a short time makes keeping his existence here a secret impossible."

"But if he isn't part of the Stargate project…" Sam trailed off.

"Then we have to be ready in case he mentions knowledge of the Stargate program publically, or talks about any of the aliens we've encountered." Leo explained.

"This, this is going to be a big one Mr President." Sam said thoughtfully. "Going public with knowledge of an alien race on Earth, we… Sir, I've got no clue how the public is going to react to this."

"Thankfully we're already ahead on that front," Leo said with a nod. "I've had people tracking comments made on the internet and news reports, finding out what the public think of this alien so far."

"And?" CJ asked curiously.

"Mixed," Leo explained with a frown. "The younger demographic seem to be mostly positive, we've got a few comments about government conspiracies, things like that, the usual nut jobs, but only a very few making hostile remarks about his open presence so far."

"What about the rest?" President Bartlet asked hopefully.

"Thirties to fifties are more mixed," Leo explained. "Mostly curious, with a few comments about military solutions, mostly sitting on the fence between positive and negative comments."

"I see," President Bartlet frowned thoughtfully.

"There are quite a few comments remarking on the similarity between the alien and the comic character as well," Leo explained. "More than a few suggesting that the news footage and photos are simply publicity stunts for a new movie."

"Could we use that?" President Bartlet asked hopefully.

"Not since the owners to the likeness rights and writers came out publically and stated they had nothing to do with the footage or photos, and know nothing about any movie being made." Leo explained. "They commented to the news before we had a chance to talk to them privately."

"Is it possible he's been here before?" Sam asked thoughtfully. "Maybe a sighting or story before is where the writers got the idea for the comic character from."

"We're having people look into that," Leo said with a nod, indicating more people had thought the same thing. "So far we're not finding any indication this alien has been to Earth before, aside from the resemblance between the comic character and the photographs."

"I'm finding it hard to believe the resemblance is just a coincidence," President Bartlet frowned. "At the very least we're looking at prior contact between his species and people on Earth, it's possible this is just the first time they're being open about it."

"Right, so we're looking at the first open contact between the people of Earth and an alien race," Sam mused aloud. "This is going to be huge, world-wide, literally."

"I've been in talks with the other world leaders," President Bartlet nodded in agreement. "Some still believe it to be a hoax; most are waiting to see what we do first."

"And what do we do?" CJ asked curiously.

"Wait," Leo said solemnly. "General Hammond's people are talking with this Superman now. It's possible we may still find a way to spin this away and arrange a cover story."

"And until then?" Sam asked.

"We ready ourselves for the worst," Leo explained. "You'll both be working on a Presidential Address to the public regarding today's events." He said before turning to CJ. "We're going to want the news on board with this, a full address covered by all stations and papers."

"It'll take some time." CJ said thoughtfully, planning out in her mind the logistics of a full release.

"We'll plan the address for after the seven hundred briefing," President Bartlet said with a nod, tapping his hands on his desk as he lent back on it. "It won't make the morning edition, but we're assuming they'll all be running with the same story. Hopefully by then we'll have something more to add." He explained.

"Yes Mr President," Sam nodded, already thinking up how he could actually write this down without coming across as a complete mental case.

"I don't have to remind you two of the sensitive nature of this," Leo said firmly. "The alien can be discussed openly; we can't hide his presence here." He explained. "The Stargate Project and everything you've just been briefed on, stays between us until circumstances change. I just wanted you to be ready if necessity dictates we divulge the Stargate Project publically."

"It's going to be a mess," Sam said candidly, looking straight at Leo.

"Tell me about it," Leo said tiredly. "I'll call you back when we know more." He explained, standing up and gesturing to the door.

"This is the big one," President Bartlet said with a nod as Sam and CJ stood up. "Openly informing the public that we're not alone in the galaxy." He said proudly. "It only happens once, so let's not screw this up people."

"Yes Mr President," Sam nodded as CJ parroted him.

"Good," President Bartlet nodded back. "Now get to work on those releases, I've got more people to see and talk about the ramifications of this." He explained as Sam moved to open and door for them both to leave.

* * *

"Doctor Rupert Giles?"

Giles turned around at the name that had been called for him, it was rare enough for anyone to use his full name in Sunnydale, it was normally either Giles or Mr Giles for any of the staff at Sunnydale high school, to use his full title as well wasn't something he'd actually heard since coming to America nearly two years ago.

"Yes?" He answered, turning around to see a young man wearing a fill military dress uniform walking towards him, he idly wished he knew more about the American military and their colours or ranks, because all he could currently tell was he was wearing a smart blue uniform and was obviously decorated, as the various stripes and colours on his chest dictated.

"Major Paul Davis sir, I'm here to escort you to New York." The man announced as he opened his hand for Giles to shake.

"Ah, yes, thank you." Giles smiled softly as he shook the man's hand. "I wasn't quite sure how long I would be needed for, so…" He trailed off, motioning to the carryall where he had neatly packed away some clothing for the trip, along with all the pieces Ethan had brought back from the future he came from. "This is Ethan Rayne, an old friend. I'm afraid the late hour of the flight is a bit much for him." He explained as Ethan stepped forwards to shake Major Davis' hand.

"Entirely understandable," Major Davis nodded. "If you'd like to follow me, we have a private jet waiting to take you to LaGuardia, from there we'll drive through to Mitchell Air Force Base where Mr Harris is waiting."

"Please then, lead the way." Giles smiled with a small nod, gesturing for the man to take the lead as he followed with Ethan. The few hours rest had done Ethan some good, helping him regain some strength, though he was physically in his late fifties to early sixties now, hardly the man in his mid-forties that he should have been given the date.

"We have priority clearance through to New York, we should be arriving there some time after midnight local time." Major Davis explained.

"I spoke to a Doctor Jackson on the phone earlier…" Giles trailed off as Major Davis led his through the airport terminal, waving his way past security for them all and leading the group out onto the main strip.

"Yes, Doctor Jackson will be accompanying them. He was one of the people on the plane that went down over New York earlier this evening." Major Davis explained. "He currently works as a civilian consultant with the Air Force."

"Ah, thank you," Giles smiled as Major Davis stepped aside to let walk up onto the private jet first. "Is Xander alright?"

"He was fine that last time I spoke to Colonel O'Neill, slightly nervous and worried I believe were the Colonel's words in describing him, but I would believe he is doing well. He is in good hands Doctor Giles, Colonel O'Neill's team are one of the best we have working for us." Major Davis explained as he followed Giles onto the jet and smiled as the attendant pulled the door closed behind them. "Unusual name, Xander that is."

"Alexander I believe," Giles explained as he took a seat where Major Davis was pointing, only for him to take a seat opposite him. "Is he in some sort of trouble?"

"Not quite," Major Davis explained as he pulled out some paperwork from the carry bag that had already been sat on the chair next to him. "To say Mr Harris has caused quite an uproar would be an understatement." He explained as he arranged the paperwork on the table in two neat piles.

"I can well imagine," Giles said, pinching the bridge of his nose and wondering exactly what it was these people were planning on doing with Xander.

"The news footage of Mr Harris saving the plane has been circulated worldwide now; we have been fielding calls from diplomats all over the world in regards to our so called 'Superman'." Major Davis explained.

"Good lord," Giles breathed out in shock, looking over at Ethan who simply smiled before taking his glasses off to polish them as he looked over at Major Davis for any hint that this was just an elaborate stunt.

"The Russian and Chinese delegates are demanding to speak to him, to see if he will be working his services worldwide or if he has plans to just work for the American government, I can expect similar calls from the British and European countries once word had reached them properly." Major Davis smiled grimly.

"I… I see…" Giles flustered out, returning his glasses to his head and staring over the table in shock, he'd never expected the news footage to have had such far reaching consequences. "And… well, what is it you are hoping to hear from Xander himself?"

"Obviously our first concern is to identify Mr Harris' future goals, if he is indeed going to carry on the tradition of using his, powers shall we say, to save people, we will have to have a suitable story in place for an explanation as to where he came from and why he is doing what he is doing." Major Davis explained as he pushed several papers towards Giles' end of the table. "If not, then we will also be working on a cover story to explain away tonight's event as a publicity stunt for a new movie, possibly with help from Warner Brother's studios in collaboration with DC comics to produce the movie so that people don't get suspicious."

"I… I see," Giles nodded.

"What can you tell me about Mr Harris then?" Major Davis asked, leaning back in the chair to adopt a more casual approach to the 'meeting'.

"I... I don't follow," Giles said as his eyes flicked to the various pieces of paperwork that had been pushed his way.

"Do you believe he would continue on, saving people so to speak, using his powers in a typical superhero manner, or would he be comfortable using them in a more low key approach?" Major Davis asked, reaching over to pour both himself and Giles a glass of water as the plane started to take off gently.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't actually be able to tell you." Giles frowned to himself as he tried to think back as to what he actually knew about Xander's motivations. "He is a good young man, I believe if he had the power to save someone, and could do it, then he wouldn't let anyone stand in his way of doing such a thing. He can be impulsive at times, and his sense of humour leaves something to be desired I suppose, there is only so many pop culture references one can stand in a day you know."

"I know the feeling," Major Davis smiled as he handed over the glass of water to Giles. "Colonel O'Neill reported that Mr Harris has the same sense of humour that he does, I confess the thought did scare me somewhat."

"Indeed," Giles smiled in thanks as he took a mouthful of the water.

"These are standard SF three one two forms, I apologise, non-disclosure agreements, fairly regular for the circumstances I assure you," Major Davis explained as he slid the two piles across the table to in front of Mr Giles and Mr Rayne. "We will be travelling to an air force base where you may hear some extraordinary things, along with some of the conversation we are about to have."

"Ah, yes," Giles nodded as he flicked his eyes over the top of the paperwork, reading the first few lines in brief.

"Let it never be said the military lacked bureaucracy," Ethan said with a roll of his eyes as he wearily looked over the paperwork.

"Mr Harris will of course be required to sign these as well once you arrive on site and can act as a witness and guardian to him while he is there." Major Davis explained softly. "Please, take your time to read them and we can continue once you have agreed to sign them."

"Certainly, thank you." Giles nodded with a small smile as he lifted up the first sheet of the agreement and started to read through it slowly.


	4. Chapter 4

TITLE: New Guard: Secret Origins

AUTHOR: Methos (methos )

DISCLAIMER: All things BtVS belong to Joss Whedon; Superman and all DCU characters belong to their respective... Ok, easier just to say this is going to be quite a big multicross, so just count anything you recognise as belonging to someone else ok? Nothing is mine, only the extremely twisted idea…

* * *

"So, what else do you like?" Jack asked with a shrug. "Hockey, sports, I'm guessing superhero comics are a given." So far he'd found that trying to talk to Xander about his life in Sunnydale and family was akin to having teeth pulled. In the thirty minutes or so they'd spent together in traffic, he barely knew anything about Sunnydale other than it seemed to have a small gang problem and he had two friends by the names of Willow and Buffy.

After about half an hour of them all trying to learn more about Xander's past, they'd given up and attempted to play poker between the four of them. Attempted would be the best word he could actually think of to describe what it was they had actually been doing, Carter was vaguely familiar with the game but was constantly trying to apply formulae and probability percentages to it to help her play, Daniel it seemed had never picked up a deck of cards in his life and had no clue how to actually play the game.

While Xander did seem to have quite a rudimentary understanding of the game, he was still a bit nervous about actually playing and talking with any of them, at best he seemed to be bonding with Daniel better than any of them. He'd tried to add in some jokes about using x-ray vision on the cards to cheat, or using his super speed to shuffle the cards in his favour, but each joke had left Xander looking more worried and if he wasn't mistaken, surprised somewhat at the jokes, like he was still accustoming himself to having these powers and was definitely not used to anyone talking to him about anything out of the ordinary.

"Uh, yeah comics are good." Xander said with a small smile.

"And, well, what, come on kid, give me something to work with here," Jack grinned across the car. "You like cartoons, the Simpsons?"

"Homer's cool," Xander nodded with a smile.

"See, now we're getting somewhere." Jack smiled softly at him. "What about sports, wrestling? Football? Baseball? Hockey?" He added the last hopefully.

"I was never really any good at them," Xander shrugged honestly. "Never tried out or anything at school, I got on the swim team once but it didn't last."

"Swimming, ok, I guess that's something." Jack nodded.

"What about other academic clubs?" Daniel asked this time from his seat next to Jack. "You said you spent a lot of time in the library with Doctor Giles. You like reading?"

"Nah," Xander laughed, feeling more comfortable at Daniel's questions. "I just hung out there with Buffy and Willow, fetched the doughnuts, helped with research, that sort of thing."

"Research?" Daniel asked, his eyes smiling at this bit of knowledge.

"School stuff, homework you know?" Xander covered up quickly. "Willow's the smart one; she knows all the computer stuff and books."

"Willow, is that your girlfriend then?" Daniel asked, trying to learn more about Xander's home life. He'd guessed from Jack's questions that he wanted to learn as much as he could about Xander's life in Sunnydale but wasn't comfortable pushing the questions, so he'd decided to try and more roundabout way of finding out.

"Willow, god no," Xander laughed. "She's like my best friend; we've known each other since kindergarten."

"So Buffy then?" Daniel asked.

"Nah," Xander shook his head slowly. "She's dating this guy called Angel."

"I'm guessing there's a story there," Jack interrupted. "Don't like the guy much I take it."

"Is loathing a good word?" Xander answered honestly. "He's just… I just don't like the guy alright."

"But you like Buffy," Jack could easily see where this was going, a love triangle between Xander, Buffy and this Angel character. He'd feel safe putting good money on the face that this Angel was everything Xander appeared not to be, probably tall, well built, a jock or something at the school, the popular kid who had all the girls drooling over him.

"She's with Angel, I don't even register on her guy-meter," Xander said sadly, remembering the hot and heavy dance Buffy had given him when she'd returned from LA just to make Angel jealous.

"Her loss then," Jack shrugged. "You can throw planes around like elastic bands or something, if that ain't going to impress the ladies then I don't know what will."

"Not all women are just interested in men's bodies' sir," Carter defended her sex from next to O'Neill. "Just because someone can be built like Mister Universe doesn't mean they're an interesting person or are right for a relationship."

"I know that Carter," Jack defended himself back. "I was just trying to explain to the kid that he's got tons of stuff going for him, if this Buffy girl isn't interested, then there's plenty more fish in the sea."

"Yeah I guess," Xander nodded. "I'm… I guess I'm just not the guy women go for." Xander said sadly as he sat in the chair and tried not to mope as the car drove on to its destination through the night-time city.

* * *

"General Hammond?"

General Hammond looked up to the door to his office, ready to deal with whatever Sergeant Harriman was about to announce. Half of him hoping that he was coming with news that this Superman stunt was exactly that, and would be able to be written off as a hoax in the paperwork shortly. "What is it?" He asked, putting down the paperwork he'd been going over.

"Sir, we have NASA on the line." Sergeant Harriman explained. "They're tracking an unidentified craft in orbit over the western coast."

"Do we have contact?" General Hammond asked, standing up from his desk with urgency and moving out of his office to deal with this new information.

"No sir," Sergeant Harriman shook his head. "NASA are transferring direct feeds to us from the satellite links, we should have visual within the hour."

"What do they have so far?" General Hammond asked as he walked down the stairs to the main control room with Sergeant Harriman following him.

"Not much sir," Sergeant Harriman shook his head as they walked. "The contact was picked up at eighteen thirty two on a low orbit, they're awaiting confirmation but it appears the ship is locked in a geosynchronous orbit."

"Above where?" General Hammond frowned, wondering if this mysterious ship had anything to do with the new Superman in their midst, it was too much of a coincidence for a ship to appear in orbit the same day as an unknown alien on the planet. "And why are we only hearing about this now?"

"We're waiting for that information as well sir, NASA were attempting to confirm contact before informing us." Sergeant Harriman explained. "Once NASA have moved the satellites into position, we should have that information along with a visual on the ship."

"Understood," General Hammond nodded. "Inform me as soon as we have any further information." He said, glancing up at the screens that were showing the information from NASA, a clear unidentified ship in orbit above the planet. "And find out how that thing got here without us knowing about it."

"Yes sir," Sergeant Harriman nodded as he moved back to the phone to contact NASA again.

* * *

"Is everything in order?" Major Davis asked as he watched Giles sign the last of the documents on the SF three one two form."

"Yes, yes, it all seems quite rudimentary for a document such as this." Giles nodded as he signed the last and replaced the pen cap before sliding the documents back over the table to Major Davis.

"Why are we filling in secrecy documents for a meeting with Xander though?" Ethan asked curiously, finding some of his old strength again now that the manic day of sending himself back through time, replacing the version of him in this time frame, and then performing the possession ritual was over.

"I assume you have some questions regarding our intentions towards Mr Harris, likewise I have some of my own questions regarding his origins so to speak." Major Davis explained, giving Ethan a nod at his own question. "Before we get started, would you like a cup of coffee or something, I realise it is quite late for a meeting like this."

Giles nodded in thanks. "Yes, though tea would be preferable if you have it."

"Coffee's fine," Ethan said simply.

"I'm sure we can find you something," Major Davis said with a smile as he stood up and made his way to the front of the jet where the refreshments were kept, normally they would have had an attendant or something on board with them, but given the sensitive nature of the conversations they would be having, it was felt best that it was limited to only essential personnel on the jet at this time.

"So, if I may ask, what are your plans with Xander?" Giles asked as he stood up from the chair and followed Major Davis to the area at the front of the plane where a burgundy curtain was hiding the refreshment area from being seen by the usual passengers.

"That entirely depends on him," Major Davis answered as he retrieved two cups from the cupboard. "I'm assuming he is in high school at the moment."

"Yes, in his junior year," Giles explained as he watched Major Davis rummage through the cupboards for some tea bags.

"A tough time for most teenagers then," Major Davis nodded as he found a small box of tea bags. "Earl Grey?" He asked, pulling the box out. "I think there is also some herbal if you'd prefer."

"No, no, Earl Grey is fine thank you," Giles nodded with a smile.

"And how is he doing at school, if you don't mind me asking," Major Davis continued as he made a coffee for himself and then used the water heater to pour out some boiling water into the cup he'd placed the earl grey tea bag in. "Milk, sugar?"

"No, thank you, black is fine." Giles fought the urge to roll his eyes at the American idea that tea was always served with milk and sugar. "Yes, I believe he's doing well enough. A young friend of his is helping tutor him in math and some of the sciences."

"Good to hear," Major Davis nodded as he finished stirring the cups. "Shall we?" He nodded back through the curtain to where Ethan was still sitting.

"Yes, sorry," Giles smiled as he led the way back this time, carefully holding the cup of tea in his hands so he wouldn't spill any in the obviously expensive jet.

"Now, if we could get back to Mr Harris' origins." Major Davis explained. "This may be quite a complicated conversation, so if you do have any questions about my side of things, don't hesitate to ask." He said as he sat back down in his chair and placed his cup of coffee on the table before shuffling the papers Giles had signed back inside the briefcase and pulling out several manila folders marked 'top secret' in return.

"I will, thank you." Giles nodded as he returned to his seat.

"So, what can you tell me about where Mr Harris comes from?" Major Davis asked, pulling out another folder and flicking it open. "We had our people look into the records for Sunnydale, and could only find one Alexander Harris born there." He spun the papers around and tapped at the photo copy of the driver's license and birth certificate for Alexander Lavelle Harris.

"Yes, these are Xander's documents." Giles nodded in affirmative as he flicked his eyes over the various papers. They all looked real enough and the photo on the photocopy of the driver's license was definitely Xander.

"So he was born in Sunnydale General Hospital, December twenty ninth," Major Davis read off the paperwork. "To Anthony and Jessica Harris."

"I confess to not actually knowing his parents' names, but if that is what it says on his birth certificate then it is more than likely correct." Giles nodded as he took a small sip of the tea, blowing on it first to cool in down slightly.

"That's his parents," Ethan nodded in confirmation. "Not that he'd ever admit it really. Not exactly the white picket fence family if you know what I'm saying."

"I see," Major Davis nodded, taking note of that. "And when did he first start developing his powers," Major Davis asked as gently as he could to broach the subject. "You see, at first we were under the impression that Mr Harris was an alien, much like his comic counterpart Superman, though these birth records and hospital records seem to be in order, we both know that records can be falsified."

"An… an alien?" Giles asked, pausing in mid sip from his tea.

"Well, it's quite obvious that Mr Harris gains his powers from somewhere, the Superman costume notwithstanding, the footage we have of him catching the plane, along with eye witness accounts of him actually being run over by the same plane upon landing it, seem to indicate he at least has the same powers of flight, strength and invulnerability that his counterpart in the comics does." Major Davis explained. "If he is an alien, one that possibly shares the same or similar histories to Superman, that it is something we would rather know now before we go any further."

"Major Davis, may I, you seem to be accepting the idea of alien life quite easily as an explanation for Xander's powers," Giles explained, casting a curious glance over towards Ethan, both of them wanting to know exactly what the military thought Xander was before he got into any further explanations, though what he was actually going to tell them about how Xander got his powers was still a blank page in his mind.

"Yes well," Major Davis smiled as he pushed the first manila folder over to Giles' side of the table for both him and Ethan to look through. "If you'd please turn to the first page, perhaps this will explain things a bit more."

Giles just nodded slightly before opening the folder and looking at the first page of the paperwork inside. The heading was marked 'Giza, 1928' and had a large faded picture of what appeared to be an Egyptian cover stone cantered in the page with writing underneath it.

"In nineteen twenty eight a device was found underneath the sands of Giza in Egypt by archaeologists searching for hidden tombs," Major Davis started to explain as Giles read through the paperwork, his eyes immediately growing wide at the implications of what he was reading here. "In nineteen thirty nine, this device was brought to America to be studied by the top minds of the time…"

Giles just focused on what he was reading and Major Davis' voice seemed to fade into the background as he flicked over the page and was faced with a large colour image of a metallic circle with the title 'The Stargate' marked underneath.

"Good lord," He whispered out as he read what the scientists in 1945 had managed to do, piecing together what he was being told here along with the letter and photos Ethan had left for him.

* * *

"So, here we are." Daniel smiled as he opened the door and got out first, holding the door open for Carter to get out next, and then Xander followed by Jack.

"Well it's not home, but close enough," Jack said with a smile as got out of the large car they'd been traveling in, the security guards around the sides of the entrance saluting him crisply as he walked past with Daniel and Carter following with Xander.

"You'll be fine," Daniel smiled across as he walked alongside Xander and Sam a few steps behind Jack

"Sorry," Xander said sheepishly as he looked at another set of guards that were stood next to the large gate that guarded the main entrance to the base. "I just don't like guns much."

"They're just here for security," Carter explained with a smile. "Nothing for you to worry about."

"Not that he has to worry about guns anyway right?" Jack called back with a grin at he stopped by the guards and flashed his security ID pass. "Head on in, I think the mess hall should be our first stop. Don't know about the rest of you, but I could do with a coffee and something to eat."

"That sounds good," Daniel nodded in agreement. "Xander?"

"I could eat," Xander admitted with a small nod.

"Go on, you kids find something to eat, I'll check in with General Hammond." O'Neil explained with a nod, even though he wasn't familiar with Mitchel Base himself, there was a standard layout to all Air Force bases that should make finding their way around easy enough.

"Ok sir, we'll see you in there." Carter said with a smile as she led the way inside the base.

"Don't worry kid, nothing bad is going to happen here," Jack reassured Xander as he saw his hesitation. "You're safe, trust me."

"I'll stay with you," Daniel added his reassurance, causing both Jack and Xander to smile at him. "You saved my life up there, it's the least I can do."

"Oh, you'll probably want these as well." Jack added with a smile as he handed over the plastic bag he'd been carrying containing the Superman costume top, cape and boots. "Just in case, ya know." He grinned as the three of them walked in through the doors to the main building itself. "See you in ten."

"Sir," Carter nodded before she led the way into the base itself.

"So, uh, what is it you guys do anyway?" Xander asked after a few moments silence as they walked through what appeared to him to be a deserted base.

"It's complicated," Carter explained with a small smile. "Once you've been properly briefed, I'm sure you'll have lots more questions."

"Yeah right," Xander nodded in return. "So you're like a scientist or something?"

"Astrophysicist," Carter nodded. "I'm also a Captain in the air force."

"And you're…" Xander asked, turning to Daniel this time.

"An archaeologist," Daniel smiled back. "My speciality is in ancient Egyptian and linguistics." Daniel explained.

"Ahh, gotcha, book guy." Xander nodded sagely. "And Jack?"

"Colonel Jack O'Neill," Carter explained his full name and rank. "He's supposedly second in command of the base we're stationed at, though he tries to get out of it whenever possible." Carter explained with a small smile.

"Second in command? Of an entire base?" Xander asked, his eyes going wide, the thought the air force had actually sent someone that high up in the chain to talk to him was a bit mind blowing at the moment, even if he had already spent the last couple of hours talking to them all and getting to know them.

"As I said, it's complicated." Carter explained with a small smile.

"Ah, ok then," Xander shrugged, he didn't know much about military terms or hierarchy at the best of times, only knowing roughly where the different names just Captain and Colonel actually were in the list compared to titles like General.

"You'll be fine," Carter smiled at him. "Colonel O'Neill will be along shortly after we find something to eat, so he'll be able to answer any other questions you have."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Xander laughed nervously as they walked past another pair of guards into an open room that was far larger than the cafeteria at the high school that he was used to.

"There's no reason to be nervous," Carter said to him reassuringly as she gestured for them all to take a seat at one of the tables. "We've just got a few questions for you, nothing really for you to worry about."

"What sort of questions?" Xander asked hopefully, hoping that he could start practicing his answers now so he could get out of here as soon as possible.

"I'm sure you'll be fine," Daniel smiled at him. "You'll be free to leave at any time you want I'm sure." He smiled at him, completely missing the wince that Carter gave as the words left his lips.

"They just want to know what you're planning to do," Carter explained, hoping to get away from Daniel's comment that he was free to leave. "Catching that plane was a big deal; the newspapers around the world will be running with the story for week now I guess. The government just wants to make sure you're going to be doing the right thing out there, it's a big responsibility having those sorts of powers, and they just want to make sure you're going to be alright with them."

"Weeks?" Xander's eyes flew open at the idea of him being in newspapers for weeks to come, he'd barely got his head around the idea that the video footage of him under that plane had made it to news stations, the idea of seeing himself on newspapers wasn't something he'd even considered. "Look, I don't even know what I'm going to do myself yet, everyone's treating this like it's some big deal or something, like I'm some sort of hero."

"You are," Daniel said earnestly. "You saved hundreds of people's lives tonight when you caught that plane; if you hadn't been there it might have crashed who knows where, maybe even in the city somewhere. You're the hero of the hour here Xander, you're going to have to get used to that."

"What if I can't?" Xander answered honestly, turning to Daniel and hoping he would be able to offer a better explanation. "I'm not a hero or anything like that, certainly not Superman, I don't even remember catching that plane, let alone flying with it or anything. I'm just the doughnut boy, nothing special here."

"You are," Daniel smiled at him, reaching up and laying his hand on his shoulder lightly. "You have the power here, if other people could do what you could do, they'd probably use it to rob banks or set themselves up as some country leader or something, you saved people's lives, that's a hero's job."

"But I'm not the hero here," Xander said honestly, leaving off the words 'Buffy is' that formed in his mind.

"You are now." Daniel smiled at him as he looked around the cafeteria. "So, soda?" He asked, eying the empty kitchen area before standing up to go in search of some food that they could all enjoy while talking this out.

* * *

"This… this is unbelievable." Giles stammered out as he turned over another page and blanched slightly at the complex set of mathematical equations shown on the paper. "You mean to tell me that the United States government has been aware of extra-terrestrial life for some time now, and has not only had contact with them, but has actually been exploring other worlds through this… this Stargate?" He frowned, rubbing his eyes as he came across a photo of what was titled a 'Goa'uld mothership' that matched the photo he had in his overnight bag precisely.

"That is precisely what I am explaining to you," Major Davis nodded. "The SGC, or Stargate Command, is charged with exploring new worlds through the Stargate, meeting new alien life and hopefully brokering trade agreements with the various civilizations they meet."

"I… I confess I don't quite know what to say to all of this." Giles admitted, glancing at Ethan and seeing him just as engrossed in the photos and information on the papers, obviously filling in the gaps that he didn't know about the aliens during the invasion. The thought that the military already knew about all of this was frankly astounding, and worrying him more now that he knew he had evidence and weapons that were obviously known alien technology in his bag only a few feet away from him in his bag.

They'd been talking for most of the flight now, with various explanations for the Stargate and how it was found, what it did, and how the government had actually been using it, taking up most of their time. Piecing it together it was obvious that these Goa'uld were the ones responsible for their attack in the future, which was what had driven Ethan to come back and use the spell responsible for the costumes tonight.

"And this… this is why you believe Xander to be an alien then?" Giles asked after a moment's thought, trying to bring himself back to dealing with the matter at hand instead of focusing on the fact that he now knew for certain they weren't alone in the universe.

"Indeed," Major Davis nodded in agreement. "Our best guess is that Mr Harris was possibly born to an alien race, or perhaps modified genetically by an alien race, and then left on earth. If his powers have only just begun to mature, it's possible he was abandoned here as an infant and his birth records falsified to show this. Perhaps if Mr Harris knows anything about his birth place or origins, we might be able to actually help him find his original planet of birth and help him relocate there."

"I am reasonably sure that Xander is not an alien," Giles said honestly, trying to figure out how he could actually talk his way around this without revealing the knowledge he had of the future to come. "In fact I am almost certain of the fact, and given the fact that I am also sure you have medical records there from Xander's past, possibly blood and eyesight tests as well, you have enough information to gauge his, well, humanity for yourself."

"We do," Major Davis admitted, finding the folder that had Xander's life history printed out inside. "Various trips to the hospital for broken bones, bruised muscles, slight internal stomach damage when he was twelve, blood tests show nothing out of the ordinary."

"There you have it." Giles nodded, though inwardly was actually thinking about Xander's medical records, nothing he'd ever said had posed that he'd been in trouble with fights or vampires before knowing Buffy, but that amount of medical history at the hospital wasn't normal for a teenager growing up.

"We believed these records were altered at some point," Major Davis explained. "We don't expect to find this amount of hospital records for someone as young as Mr Harris."

"Neither did I actually." Giles frowned openly as he took off his glasses and started cleaning them. "As to his medical past, you will have to talk to Xander about those, to him being an alien however, I can vouch that Xander is as normal as they come, perhaps a bit of a slacker in certain areas, but nothing more than is to be expected from a typical teenage boy."

"You're certain this birth record is accurate?" Major Davis asked.

"As certain as I can be without talking to Xander." Giles nodded in agreement.

"If he was born as a normal human being then, we can only ascertain that he was altered somehow, perhaps recently if this is his first experience with his powers." Major Davis mused as he shuffled the alien theory away in his mind and focused on other explanations for the powers that had been witnessed by so many people.

"Quite possibly," Giles nodded, turning to look at Ethan and nodding along, hiding the wince at how close Major Davis had been to the truth, and realising that this was going to be far more complicated than Ethan's original plan had been.

* * *

"Hey kids," O'Neill smiled as he opened the door and walked in with a pile of papers under his arm. "Sorry about the wait," He smiled as he walked into the cafeteria, eying the coffee pot and various packets of chips that were on the table. "Found some snacks then?" He asked as he sat down.

"Did you manage to contact General Hammond?" Daniel asked as he slid over the coffee pot he'd liberated from the kitchen for Jack.

"Yup," O'Neill nodded. "Major Davis is flying in with Mr Giles and Mr Rayne; they'll be here in a few hours." He explained as he poured out a mug of coffee. "He's been dealing with The President, trying to figure out what exactly we're going to do here."

"A cover story?" Daniel asked curiously.

"That's something being discussed." O'Neill nodded slowly. "Like I said, you did the hero thing pretty well." O'Neill explained to Xander with a small smile. "We're just trying to figure out exactly what the story is here and where we can really go with it."

"Uh, thanks?" Xander half asked as he picked hesitantly at a bag of chips that he'd opened on the table.

"You're not in trouble alright?" O'Neill said after a moment's thought, trying to reassure the kid. "If anything, it should be us thanking you for what you did tonight, even though it's caused a lot of people back in Washington a big headache." He explained, pausing to take a mouthful of the coffee. "Look, we're just trying to see how we can work this out, I mean, it's not as if we can cover this up anymore, with the news reports and footage, it's all going to be nationwide by the end of the night."

"I guess," Xander nodded after a moment's thought.

"So you see the problem," O'Neill nodded over as he tapped the papers on the desk. "I had these faxed over after our people pulled up your history, so, Sunnydale? Not some alien with a ship waiting in orbit?"

"Uh, yeah," Xander nodded. "I mean no, no to the ship thing, Sunnydale born and bred sadly." He laughed nervously over the table as he picked at some more chips.

"I think what Colonel O'Neill is trying to ask, is what you have planned now?" Carter asked helpfully. "When we asked you about the Stargate before, you indicated you haven't heard of it before."

"The Chap'pai?" Daniel asked hopefully.

"Like I said, born in Sunnydale," Xander said with a shrug. "No Stargate's or Chapper-thingies or whatever you want to call them." He explained.

"So you're just magically able to do all the stuff you can?" O'Neill quipped with a smirk. "'Cause if you're not planning on anything else, I can think of a few guys I'd love to introduce you to." He said with a grin, picturing Xander throwing around Jaffa with ease and punching Apophis into orbit.

"Uh, no?" Xander shook his head, wondering what the right answer was here. "I don't even know how I did the arm wrestling or speed cards thing; I just did it you know?" He tried to put his thoughts into words to explain what he was trying to say. "I mean, I don't even know how I did the flying thing, and I definitely don't want to try it again anytime soon."

"Hey, relax; we're just here to see what it is you can actually do here." O'Neill said reassuringly with a smile.

"Sorry," Xander nodded, taking a breath to calm himself. "This is all just freaking me out alright, I mean these things," He gestured to the handcuffs that were still attached to each of his wrists like bracelets. "It was like tearing tissue paper when I broke them."

"You wanna get rid of them completely?" O'Neill said, looking at the set of military grade handcuffs that had been snapped along the chain.

"Huh?" Xander asked, looking at the handcuffs. "You mean twist them off or something?" He asked, contemplating how to actually get the things off of his wrists.

"Go for it," O'Neill nodded.

"Well, I guess I could…" Xander trailed off as he held the thick bit off the handcuff where the lock was held between his thumb and index finger and twisted sharply, the sound of metal screeching for a moment filled the room before the handcuff snapped away from his wrist and dropped to the table harmlessly. "Oh, uh, yeah, guess so." Xander nodded as he did exactly the same with his other hand and dropped the two pieces of broken handcuffs on the table in front of him.

"See, super strength." Jack nodded with a small smile.

"I guess," Xander nodded, poking the handcuffs with his finger. "Not fake or plastic or anything?" He asked, turning to Jack hopefully.

"These are the same handcuffs used to secure prisoners," Carter explained as she picked up one of the broken pieces of metal and examined it. "They are made of a toughened steel alloy."

"See, see what I mean," Xander breathed out as he picked up one of the broken handcuffs and proceeded to bend it around in his fingers. "This could be plastic or play dough for all I know." Xander said before dropping the now twisted and warped chunk of metal on the table with a clang. "I just want to go home."

"We'll see what we can do," Daniel nodded with surprise, a bit taken aback by the frustration and surprise that he could almost feel radiating off the young man in front of him.

"Uh, is there a restroom or something around here?" Xander asked cautiously, looking around the cafeteria for anything that could have directions to a men's room he could use.

"Down the hall," O'Neill nodded to the main doors. "Left hand side, can't miss it." He explained. "Daniel, wanna show the kid back there?"

"Sure," Daniel smiled helpfully as he stood up.

"Thanks," Xander smiled as he stood up and followed Daniel out of the cafeteria, thankful that the group of people here seemed friendly enough and willing to listen to him, not at all like he'd pictured official type people to be.

"Well?" O'Neill asked, raising his eyebrow at Carter as he picked up the twisted lump of metal that used to be one of the pieces of handcuff, tossing it between his hands before holding it out for Carter to take.

"If I had to guess sir, I'd say he's exactly who he appears to be." Carter said with a frown as she tried to twist the metal back to its original form. "He seems quite surprised at being able to do what he can, I get the feeling he's actually unnerved at his level of strength. Overall sir, I'd say he's exactly what he appears to be. If we didn't have proof of these abilities he possesses, he seems to be just a normal teenager."

"Seems that way," O'Neill nodded in agreement. "He said anything that explains these powers?" He asked hopefully.

"I wasn't sure at first, but the way he hesitates and avoids questions about his parents and life back in Sunnydale, it all adds up sir. If these powers are new to him, they possibly manifested as a result of the abuse received."

"So what, he just woke up one day with the powers of Superman?" O'Neill asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not quite sir," Carter shook her head. "I don't know enough about his genetic makeup to pose a current theory on how he is able to do the things he can, if, like he claims, he was ordinary until a short time ago."

"So, what, are we talking alien experiments here?" O'Neill asked with a frown. "Another Goa'uld on Earth?"

"I don't think so sir," Carter shook her head. "We were talking while we were waiting for you, I idly mentioned ideas of aliens, flashing lights, glowing eyes, anything that would signify the fact that he had encountered a Goa'uld."

"I'm guessing that's a no then," O'Neill nodded thankfully, knowing if Carter had suspected any Goa'uld was behind this, she'd have told him immediately.

"I thought there was a reaction to the flashing eyes comment, but he laughed it off and started asking about gang members on drugs." Carter explained. "However it is he is doing what he does, I don't believe it's the result of Goa'uld manipulation."

"Perhaps someone else? I can't really see the Nox doing something like this." O'Neill mused aloud, trying to find a reasonable explanation for what he'd witnessed so far.

"I don't think so sir," Carter shook her head. "We have no reason to believe the Nox are performing experiments on humans, and it doesn't feel like something the Tollan would do. Neither race showed any interest in us, or performing experiments on other humans."

"Yeah, too young," O'Neill nodded, remembering how the Nox treated them. "I just don't like the idea that we've got a kid here with all the powers of Superman, and we've got no hope of trying to control him if he goes rogue. I mean, could we bribe him or something, get him to work with us?"

"He's only a teenager sir, not even out of high school is my guess," Carter explained.

"And has the powers to take down an army on his own," O'Neill frowned. "General Hammond is already getting calls from the Oversight Committee and higher up the food chain, we're to try and recruit him if possible. Basically I'm guessing that the joint chiefs don't want someone with that sort of power going free. So unless we can restrain him, which I'm guessing has a chance of about zero," O'Neill said, picking up the twisted handcuff metal and tossing it around in his hand. "We're to do whatever we can to convince him to work with us."

"I…" Carter trailed off as she thought about what she'd seen of Xander so far. "I think we could persuade him sir, he's a bit rough around the edges, but seems to get on with Daniel well enough. I think he's just in shock. If we take it as his word that tonight is the first time he's experienced anything like this, then it would explain why we haven't seen or heard any stories of a teenage Superman saving the day in the Los Angeles area."

* * *

"Admiral Fitzwallace," General Hammond saluted crisply as the elevator doors opened to reveal the older Admiral stood there.

"General Hammond," Admiral Fitzwallace nodded crisply. "What can you tell me?"

"Not much," General Hammond said as he gestured for Admiral Fitzwallace to walk alongside him. "We have NASA pinning down information on the new contact as we speak, though satellite telemetry has been coming in for the past hour or so."

"That's good," Admiral Fitzwallace nodded. "What do we have?"

"It's not Goa'uld, we've been able to ascertain that much." General Hammond explained as they continued to walk. "The design of the unknown ship is recognisable, but I'm leaving that up to the scientists to go over that one with me."

"Explain," Admiral Fitzwallace frowned over.

"It's best you see it for yourself Admiral," General Hammond said after a moment's thought as one of the airmen ahead opened the doors to the briefing room for them. "Ahh, Teal'c, good. This is Admiral Fitzwallace, Admiral Fitzwallace, Teal'c."

"I've heard a lot about you," Admiral Fitzwallace said, holding out his hand for Teal'c to shake. "Word is you've been doing good work here."

"Teal'c done his fair share for this planet," General Hammond nodded as Teal'c shook the offered hand. "This is what NASA have been tracking Admiral." General Hammond explained as he moved to the briefing table and opened the file he'd left there, sliding the low resolution images out for Admiral Fitzwallace to see.

"Is this what I think it is General?" Admiral Fitzwallace asked with a frown, glancing at the images for a few moments before turning back to General Hammond.

"I am not familiar with this vessel either Admiral Fitzwallace." Teal'c said with a nod.

"I am," Admiral Fitzwallace frowned. "What's going on here General?" He demanded.

"I wish I knew Admiral," General Hammond frowned back, looking at the photos. "The similarities between the ship currently in orbit and the designs used in Star Trek are too obvious to be overlooked."

"Like the similarities between our new Superman and his fictional counterpart," Admiral Fitzwallace frowned in thought. "Am I to assume there is a link between the two?"

"We're working under that assumption," General Hammond nodded in agreement. "Though Colonel O'Neill informs me that Mr Harris, our new Superman, has no knowledge of alien ships, and claims to be from Earth."

"I find that unlikely General," Admiral Fitzwallace said with a frown, glancing at the photos again. "Have we received any contact from the ship?"

"None," General Hammond shook his head. "We've tried directed radio signals, and with Teal'c's help have tried numerous Goa'uld frequencies. We received no answer to any of our attempts."

"Possibly because it belongs to Mr Harris who is in New York with your team," Admiral Fitzwallace said thoughtfully. "Tactical options?"

"The ship is in a low orbit above the eastern coast," General Hammond explained, sliding across another photo showing the ship's orbital path. "It appears to be locked in a geosynchronous orbit above the Los Angeles area."

"And we're the only ones who know about this?" Admiral Fitzwallace asked hopefully.

"For now," General Hammond nodded. "I have people continuously monitoring the news broadcasts for any information on the ship or any new information regarding Superman, but for now all the channels are focusing on the plane crash and speculation regarding Superman."

"I see," Admiral Fitzwallace said thoughtfully. "And Mr Harris has flatly denied any link to this alien vessel?"

"According to Colonel O'Neill," General Hammond nodded in agreement.

"Then we can't allow an unknown alien vessel to retain tactical positioning above our planet without incident," Admiral Fitzwallace said with a simple nod. "It could be performing scans on our military capabilities as we speak."

"Indeed," Teal'c nodded in agreement with Admiral Fitzwallace's statement. "It would be unwise to allow such a vessel to remain in orbit of your planet."

"For the moment, there's little we can do," General Hammond explained. "As Teal'c explained, we know nothing about this race or their technology, their offensive or defensive capabilities. Any act on our part to force the ship away from its orbit could lead to an attack by them."

"You say you've tried communicating with them, what else is there?" Admiral Fitzwallace frowned, glaring down at the pictures.

"There is also the matter of diplomatic communications," General Hammond reminded Admiral Fitzwallace. "For all we know, there could be one of many reasons they haven't answered our communications, I'm not ready to sanction a tactical strike on an unknown vessel simply for violating our space."

"I am," Admiral Fitzwallace said with a curt nod. "To leave a vessel of unknown capabilities in orbit above our country is tactical suicide."

"Perhaps further attempts at communication would yield success," Teal'c interrupted.

"Teal'c is right Admiral," General Hammond said, looking back to Admiral Fitzwallace. "I won't sanction a tactical strike without knowing more about this vessel. We'll try to initiate contact, but keep a tactical strike on standby in case they appear hostile."

"I'll inform The Pentagon," Admiral Fitzwallace said simple, his tone saying he didn't agree with General Hammond but was willing to give him a bit more leash on this one than he normally would. "The Columbia is in orbit currently," Admiral Fitzwallace said thoughtfully. "Commander Kregel if I remember correctly. I'll contact NASA to see what we can do."

"Very well," General Hammond nodded in agreement, he'd been thinking of contacting NASA regarding a shuttle launch himself, though it was obvious Admiral Fitzwallace had more influence and knowledge over NASA's launch schedule than he did. "Would you have Major Ferretti report to us?" He asked, looking over at Teal'c who simply nodded before moving away from the room.

* * *

"It's a hoax right?" Stuart was the first one to catch sight of Mike and Nikki as they came back into the main offices of City Hall.

"'Fraid not," Mike commented offhand, taking his coat off and throwing it over a desk at random. "The Air Force have taken control, they've taken Superman down to Mitchel Base to talk." He explained. "Where's Paul?" He asked, looking around.

"He's been on the phone all night," Stacie explained from her desk.

"Get him in here," Mike said as he walked into his office with everyone following him.

"Superman's real?" Stuart asked, walking alongside Nikki as they headed into the Deputy Mayor's office.

"More like Superboy," Nikki said with a nod. "But from what I saw, he's real enough."

"So we're his Metropolis?" Stuart grinned. "I wonder if there's a Supergirl out there to match," He said with a smirk. "'Cause I know this brunette who does this routine in a Wonder Woman outfit with the lasso…"

"The guy carries passenger flights with his hands Stuart," Mike said as he hopped up and sat on his desk. "Making comments like that about any of his family is probably not the best idea."

"Gotcha," Stuart nodded, accepting the advice after picturing someone that could pick up a plane hitting him, not something he actually wanted to feel at any point if I could help it.

"But I am liking the idea of keeping him in New York," Mike commented thoughtfully. "We could definitely use someone like him around."

"We'd have our own superhero?" James asked excitedly. "That's so cool."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Mike said with a nod, holding up his hands to calm everyone down. "We don't even know what the Air Force has planned here, so we're waiting on them before we can make any decisions."

"We could always pay him?" Nikki commented from the couch in the office. "He's just a kid, so he'd need somewhere to stay, food, clothes, that sort of stuff right? We put him on a salary, he stays around and we get him an apartment or something."

"Paying Superman?" Mike mused aloud. "It could work I guess." He said with a shrug as he looked up to see Stacie and Paul walking in to the office. "Paul, tell me you have something."

"I'm sorry Mike, I'm being blocked left and right here," Paul shook his head apologetically in frustration. "The Air Force have been on the line all night, I can't even ask questions without them calling it national security and closing me down."

"It's alright, I expected as much." Mike nodded along. "So far the official word is no comment, if anyone asks. We can talk about the plane, anything that happened there. The FAA are investigating but the Air Force will be issuing statements separately. Until then we have no official word on…" He trailed off as the side door to the office opened, letting The Mayor walk in. "Sir, I was going to talk to you once we'd finished up here."

"Is it true Mike?" Mayor Randall Winston asked as he looked around the gathered group. "I've been watching the news and had calls from The President himself tonight. What's going on?"

"I'm afraid it's true sir," Mike nodded in agreement. "Superman is currently over at Mitchel Air Force Base in Westbury."

"So it's true, we have our own superhero in our midst." The Mayor smiled happily.

"Not quite sir," Mike shook his head with a frown. "We were just discussing what to do if Superman decides to stay here, but until the Air Force tell us differently, we're not to comment on anything the press ask about him."

"But unofficially?" The Mayor asked hopefully.

"Unofficially we're going to try and bribe him," Mike said with a smile. "If any city gets to have their own Superman, we're getting him first."

"That's what I like to hear." The Mayor smiled, slapping Mike on the shoulder happily. "President Bartlet has been on the phone all night. We're to give full cooperation to the Air Force in this matter."

"We're doing just that sir," Mike nodded. "As soon as we know more, I'll let you know."

"Carry on then," The Mayor smiled with a nod. "But I'd love to be able to tell the people of this city that we have a real Superman out there to protect them." He said with a smile as he walked back towards the side door.

"As would we all sir," Mike nodded along before closing the door behind The Mayor and turning back to the group. "Ok people, how do we bribe a teenage Superman to work in the city? Ideas?" He asked hopefully, looking around and quickly dismissing Stuart's hand that went up just as quick. "And no Stuart, Wonder Woman strippers are not an option here."

* * *

"As I was saying, Colonel O'Neill is a member of Stargate Command as you know; when we arrive there he'll be the one you speak to prior to seeing Mr Harris." Major Davis explained as they got into the large black car that had been waiting for them at LaGuardia Airport once they'd landed.

"I can understand that," Giles nodded in understanding as the door to the car was shut behind them and the driver started driving out of the airport.

"We do have some other things to discuss however, the discussion of the Stargate having taken up more time on the flight over than I had anticipated." Major Davis explained from where he was sat by the window. "Your involvement with the Watchers Council I believe should be first on our agenda."

Both Ethan and Giles went wide eyed at that twist in the conversation. "Wh… what?" Giles spluttered out, flicking his head around to look at Major Davis properly.

"I was briefed on the Watchers Council while flying down to Sunnydale, when Mr Harris requested your presence, your name was run through various checks to approve you for knowledge regarding the SGC. Needless to say your name was flagged by various international agencies, following this trail we were called at high levels by the British government." Major Davis explained. "We have worked with the Watchers Council before, on several occasions in fact. Though the latest agreement between our governments was during the second world war, when our Demon Research Initiative was working in direct cooperation with your Watchers Council to facilitate the war against Hitler and preventing him from retrieving the Lance of Longinus."

"I… I apologise, I was unaware the United States had any ties to the Watchers Council other than peripheral knowledge of our work." Giles spluttered out after a moment.

"It's true that the Demon Research Initiative broke away from the Watchers Council sometime after nineteen fifty eight, since then we have worked on the hostile sub-terrestrial problem, demons as you would call them, on our own terms." Major Davis explained. "I have worked with the DRI several times to broker military contracts between them and working on foreign soil, as such I have enough knowledge of their mandate and the types of hostile sub-terrestrials they deal with."

"Ri… right, of course then," Giles nodded, a bit stunned at this bit of information and wondering how this would change their talks now.

"Is Mr Harris a hostile sub-terrestrial of any sort?" Major Davis asked point blank.

"No," Ethan answered simply as Giles tried to find his thoughts again.

"Do you have any idea as to how Mr Harris can do what he is able to?" Major Davis asked, again not being subtle as they drove through New York.

"I have some theories, but none that would constitute knowledge." Giles admitted honestly before taking a deep breath. "Last night there was an incident shall we say. I'm not honestly sure how to explain it without going into larger details that I don't quite understand yet, but it appears that Sunnydale was the focus of a chaos mage, a magic user if you will." He explained, glancing over at Ethan but not giving anything further away.

"I haven't been fully briefed on the sub-terrestrial magic users, though there has been mention of them." Major Davis nodded. "You believe he transformed Mr Harris into whatever he is now." Major Davis nodded.

"It's my belief," Giles nodded back, trying to concoct the story on the fly but keep it close enough to the truth so that it would be easy to keep straight.

"This complicates things somewhat." Major Davis said as he sat back in the chair and tried to think how he was going to explain this to the joint chiefs.

"In what way?" Giles asked as he took off his glasses and started polishing them against his shirt, wondering how much more complicated things could actually get.

"We believed Mr Harris' powers were alien in origin, which had been the first idea by the joint chiefs and was the reason why the SGC had been brought into the equation." Major Davis explained.

"And the people at this Stargate Command…" Giles trailed off as he realised where Major Davis was heading.

"Have no knowledge of the Demon Research Initiative or the existence of the supernatural." Major Davis continued. "The Demon Research Initiative is a highly secret project; I believe the amount of people that know of both the Demon Research Initiative and the Stargate program could be counted on two hands." Major Davis paused as he actually named in his head all the people that actually knew of both programs. "Including us." He said finally, looking at both Ethan and Giles.

"Good lord," Giles whispered out as he continued to clean his glasses against his shirt.

"If you'll excuse me." Major Davis said before pulling out his cell phone and dialling a specific number from memory. "Senator Blanco please, it's Major Davis. We have a complication."

* * *

"Uh, Jack?" Daniel asked, pushing through the doors to the cafeteria urgently.

"What?" O'Neill asked, quickly looking up from his coffee, expecting more trouble from Daniel's tone of voice. "The kid alright?"

"You should come and see for yourself," Daniel explained as O'Neill stood up, making his way to follow Daniel with Carter following him a few steps behind. "It, um, started when he was… you know…"

"What star… ah," O'Neill nodded with a frown, seeing the problem as he walked down the corridor following Daniel's lead, to where he could see Xander trying to pull his way out of the bathroom, using the top of the door for leverage as he was floating a clear three or four feet off the ground. "Right," He muttered to himself, his brain trying to make sense of what he was actually seeing in front of him. "Having some trouble?" He asked with a grin.

"Oh thank god guys," Xander breathed out. "Can you, uh…" He trailed off, nodding to the ground.

"He just started floating in the rest room," Daniel explained. "There was a little, accident I guess with the urinal."

"Accident?" O'Neill asked, almost dreading the answer.

"It, um, broke?" Xander offered hesitantly. "I was just, you know… and crack, shatter, pieces on the floor."

"You broke a urinal?" Carter asked with a frown.

"When the water sprayed out, he jumped back and… well, didn't come back down." Daniel explained with a shrug. "I tried pulling him back but…" He trailed off as O'Neil reached up to Xander's arm and tried pulling him down, much the same way he'd tried himself. "See."

"Having a little problem with the down part," Xander said honestly, holding his hand out for Daniel to grab as well, where O'Neill was holding on to his arm and lifting himself off the ground.

"Sir, are you…" Carter trailed off as Daniel tried pulling Xander down as well. "

"A little help here Carter," O'Neill said in frustration, pulling down on Xander's arm and effectively only pulling himself up off the ground in the process. "Grab hold or I'm just going to tear your shirt here." He explained up to Xander, letting go of his shirt and holding his hand out for Xander to take. "Good, now hold on tight while I…" He trailed off and grit his teeth as Xander squeezed down on his hand. "Ok, let go, let go…" He breathed out in relief as Xander released his grip on his hand, pulling it back gingerly. "Jesus," He muttered to himself, shaking his hand to get some feeling back in his fingers from where Xander had gripped it, to him it had felt like his hand had just been crushed in a steel press.

"Sir, if Xander can lift the Colson carrier without strain, then I don't see how the three of us could put enough weight on his body to force him down." Carter explained with a frown, her brain still in disbelief at what she was seeing in the hallway.

"Well how are we supposed to go anywhere with him just floating like that?" Jack groused out, still rubbing his fingers again before grabbing Xander's arm with his other hand and tugging down. "It's like he's fixed in the air or something, I can't…" He grumbled letting out a grunt as he pulled down on Xander's arm again and lifted himself off the floor by a foot again before dropping back down.

"Can you move at all?" Carter asked, walking up to investigate the phenomenon close up, seeing underneath Xander where he was still bare foot under his jeans, with the bottom part of the blue tights poking out to his ankles.

"I don't even know how to get down, let alone move around." Xander explained, wafting his hands through the air in an attempt to push his way back down to the ground.

"I wonder…" Carter trailed off as she reached her hand up and took hold of Xander's arm before turning around and taking a step forward, pulling Xander along with her.

"Aha!" O'Neill nodded happily. "So we can move you." He said with a grin, watching as Xander simply floated along in the air with Carter pulling him.

"Great, I'm the human push toy," Xander grumbled aloud as Carter took another step, pulling him along through the air.

"For now it seems to be an involuntary reaction," Carter explained. "It could be a physical control, but I'm suspecting it's more a mental reaction. He thought about jumping up to get away from the water, and he went up. I'd assume that in time, flight would be much the same for you as walking would be." She explained as she pulled him back towards the cafeteria. "Though I am confused as to the resistance in returning you to the ground, there appears to be no friction or weight in response to your movement with me pulling you."

"In simple terms Carter," O'Neill frowned as he walked ahead and held out the door for Carter to pull Xander through back into the cafeteria.

"Sir, I'm just thinking that the resistance you felt when you tried to pull him down must have been resistance controlled by Xander, as I have no problem moving him around horizontally." Carter explained as she led the way through the doors, causing Xander to duck his head down as she pulled him through into the cafeteria.

"So he didn't come down when I pushed because he didn't want to?" O'Neill asked, trying to get it straight in his mind.

"Something like that sir," Carter nodded.

"But I want to get down, really," Xander nodded enthusiastically. "The ground is my friend."

"Well figuring out how to get you back on the ground is one thing," O'Neill nodded thoughtfully. "But at least you know how to get up now." He offered happily.

"I'm not sure spraying water on the ground every time he wants to fly is a good idea," Daniel answered for him.

"While we do work on returning you to the ground, perhaps it would be an idea to test the amount of weight you are capable of lifting while airborne." Carter explained. "If we move to the gymnasium, we could test out the weights there and see. We can also pad the floor there to make it more comfortable for you if you do manage to bring yourself down successfully."

"Sounds like a plan," O'Neill nodded in agreement. "You two head over to the gym while I try and find someone to take care of the water stuff. I'll get a call out to Major Davis and see how long he'll be with Mr Giles, then meet you there."

* * *

"As you can see, the footage we have here of the dramatic rescue of flight one four seven is only part of the story, with questions regarding the flight's mysterious saviour so far unanswered by any official." The broadcaster announced as the background of the studio wall screen changed to show the black and white footage of Superman landing the plane. "What is apparent is the strain placed upon Superman during this amazing feat, shortly after landing the plane Superman appeared fatigued from the effort and fell from the undercarriage, it is unclear at this time if the Man of Steel was unharmed." The scene changed again to a close up of Superman's face on the screen for everyone to see. "When we return, we'll be following the story further, and will continue to bring you updates as they come to us." The announcer explained as the picture of Superman's face faded to a commercial break.

"Can you believe this?" Rachel asked from the kitchen in their apartment, fetching a glass of orange juice for herself while Monica continued watching the TV. "Superman, here in New York."

"It has to be some sort of stunt," Monica said thoughtfully from the couch. "I mean Superman, come on Rachel, it's a comic, not some real life hero that catches planes for a living."

"You saw the news," Rachel commented. "It's on every channel; if it's a stunt then he's pulled the biggest joke in history here."

"I just…" Monica trailed off, turning to the door as a knock sounded.

"I'll get it," Rachel said as she walked over from the kitchen. "I'm not saying he's Superman, not the comic character anyway, but flying around, catching planes. It sure sounds like him." She explained as she opened the door. "Hey guys."

"Are you two watching this as well?" Chandler asked, looking back to his apartment door where Joey was stood keeping an eye on the TV from the doorway.

"Come on in," Monica called over. "They're on commercial at the moment."

"What do you think of this all?" Chandler asked, beckoning for Joey to join them as he walked into the apartment as Monica stood up from the couch.

"Real?" Rachel asked hopefully. "I mean, it's not as if anyone could fake that sort of thing right? You saw the plane landing and everything right, that wasn't some movie special effect."

"That's what I'm saying," Joey nodded as he walked in and closed the door behind him. "There's no way that was fake, I know actors, and he isn't anyone I know."

"Joey, if it's a Hollywood promotion then you wouldn't know him anyway," Monica countered. "It has to be some sort of stunt that the news stations are promoting for a movie, it can't be real."

"See," Chandler nodded along, thankful that someone agreed with him. "Superman isn't real Joey; it's just some stunt for an upcoming movie."

"Looked real to me," Rachel shrugged. "Besides if it were just some stunt, then why are the news crews waiting around for an official statement?"

"To make it seem authentic?" Chandler offered. "I mean come on, a guy flying around in blue spandex and a cape, that's not the sort of thing you see outside of the gay pride parade."

"You won't be laughing when it turns out he's real." Rachel said smugly. "Then New York will have its own Superhero, and all you doubters will see."

"I'll believe that when I see it," Monica said with a roll of her eyes.

"When we see him flying past the window with our own eyes that is," Chandler expanded on Monica's comment. "No special effects or computer images."

"Fine," Rachel nodded. "Ten bucks says he's real."

"I'll take that," Monica nodded, getting in on the bet. "Ten say's it's a fake."

"Why not," Chandler nodded. "Fake." He nodded in agreement with Monica.

"Real." Joey said with a nod, moving to stand beside Rachel.

"The bet's on until we have solid proof he's real or a fake," Monica stated the terms.

"Fine," Rachel nodded in agreement. "You'll see." She said smugly as they all turned back to the TV to continue watching the night's news unfold.

* * *

"General Hammond," Colonel O'Neill nodded as General Hammond answered the phone, where he was pacing outside of the cafeteria in the cool night air.

"Colonel, do you have something?" General Hammond's voice came over the line.

"Yes sir," Colonel O'Neill nodded even though he knew General Hammond couldn't see it. "We can confirm Mr Harris has the speed and strength of Superman, those that we can test so far anyway." He explained, taking a breath before continuing. "And he can fly sir."

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that Colonel?" General Hammond asked in a bewildered tone.

"I saw it myself sir," O'Neill said matter of factly. "Hovering three feet off the floor in front of me, I wouldn't have believed it myself if I wasn't there sir. He's not going to be swooping around saving the day gracefully or anything, well, not yet anyway, but he can definitely fly."

"I see," General Hammond continued. "Am I to take it that he possesses the other powers from the comics as well?"

"We haven't tested any of his vision based powers yet sir," Colonel O'Neill explained. "Carter seems to think she'll be able to test his strength more in the base gym here sir, so we might be able to find out more there."

"Keep me informed Colonel." General Hammond said over the line. "I don't need to tell you that there's word coming down from Washington that we're being watched on this. President Bartlet has already been in touch and Admiral Fitzpatrick from the Security Council here to work as a liaison between the SGC and the White House on this matter. We're to begin talks regarding Mr Harris' possible appointment as a paid superhero."

"Sorry, can you repeat that sir?" O'Neill asked, the last comment having stopped him in his tracks as he held the phone to his ear with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"I had the same reaction Colonel," General Hammond said over the line. "There's talk in Washington that there's interest from various parties in paying Mr Harris to continue acting as a superhero. I can't discuss details here, but it is one avenue being discussed that you can offer him aside from joining the SGC if that is his wish."

"Yes sir," O'Neill nodded again started walking again, pretty sure he would have to step back and pick up his jaw from the ground after what General Hammond had just said. "Sir, I think Major Davis and Mr Giles have arrived." He explained, watching where two of the guards from the main entrance were waving him over to where a plain black car was parked near the entrance barrier.

"We have our own problems here Colonel." General Hammond explained. "We have a ship in orbit that appears to have appeared around the same time as Mr Harris' first appearance." He explained.

"A ship sir?" O'Neill asked, motioning for Major Davis to stay where he was for the moment. "Goa'uld?" He asked with a wince.

"It doesn't look like it Colonel," General Hammond's voice came back. "I'm prepping Major Ferretti and SG-Two to investigate the ship for the moment, are you sure Mr Harris' has no knowledge about the Stargate or this ship?"

"If he does he's hiding it pretty well sir," O'Neill answered thoughtfully. "I'm siding with the kid here General, I don't think he knows anything more than he's saying at the moment."

"Very well," General Hammond's voice came back. "We've had no contact from the ship so far, and despite objections, I've managed to restrain a tactical strike against the ship for the moment. Contact me if Mr Harris' shows any sign of knowing about this ship or anything further, I'll have documents sent over to Mitchell Base for you to look at."

"Yes sir," O'Neill commented to himself, frowning as the line went dead before he folded the cell phone closed and put it back in his pocket as he walked over to where the security guards were stood by the car and its two occupants.

"Colonel," Major Davis nodded as Colonel O'Neill came over. "This is Doctor Giles from Sunnydale. And Mr Rayne."

"Doctor," O'Neill smiled as he held out his hand for Giles to shake.

"Yes, thank you," Giles nodded with a small smile as he shook the offered hand, causing Colonel O'Neill to wince slightly. "Sorry, are you alright?"

"It's nothing," O'Neill said as he took his hand back and massaged it gently. "Think the kid is still getting used to his strength."

"So I've been told," Giles nodded.

"Colonel, if I might have a word," Major Davis said quietly, stepping forward away from Giles for this.

"We're kinda busy here Major, can we take this inside first?" O'Neill asked, not wanting to put off this talk with the two men that had come for Xander any longer than was necessary.

"I'm afraid not sir," Major Davis shook his head. "This may be more complicated than we originally perceived sir."

"Alright," Colonel O'Neill nodded. "I'll be with you in a second ok?" He said with a small nod towards Giles and Ethan before stepping aside with Major Davis.

"Of course," Giles nodded over as Colonel O'Neill and Major Davis moved away from the car to talk quietly.

* * *

"The military?" Giles hissed out in a whisper as he watched Colonel O'Neill and Major Davis walk away so they could talk in private. "You didn't think to tell me the American military would be involved in this?"

"I assure you, this is just as much a surprise to you as it is for me," Ethan said honestly, looking over at Colonel O'Neill and Major Davis wearily. "When the Goa'uld invaded, there was no sign the military had prior dealings with them."

"Well I'd say this Stargate of theirs certainly counts," Giles blustered, removing his glasses as polishing them against his shirt. "No wonder they weren't surprised to be dealing with a real life Superman, if they have experiences going through this Stargate, no telling what they've seen out there." He hissed out, nodding upward to the night sky. "Do you think they know?"

"If they did, then they would have used this Stargate of theirs to evacuate their important people before the invasion," Ethan nodded wearily. "There wasn't time for that, not when their ships and bombs came."

"I see," Giles nodded thoughtfully. "Then perhaps, they are in the same boat as we are."

"But we hold the cards," Ethan said with a wry smile. "I assume…" He trailed off, looking at the holdall Giles was carrying.

"Yes," Giles nodded, checking the two military people weren't watching or listening in to their conversation. "Though I fail to see how we will be able to talk to Xander regarding his future self's wishes without sounding somewhat crazy in front of these people."

"It doesn't matter what they think," Ethan said determinedly. "We're here to change the future, not let the military take over."

"What happened to chaos not playing favourites?" Giles asked quietly as he noticed the two military people coming back.

"I'm not chaos," Ethan said with a nod. "And for one, I like this planet as it is, so you don't have to worry about that."

"Why don't you let me decide on what I should worry about," Giles said softly, rubbing his temples for a minute to help fight off another headache. "You worry about how to explain all of this to Xander."

* * *

"Is this about the ship?" Colonel O'Neill asked as he walked back to the main guard post with Major Davis, leaving the two guards by Doctor Giles and the car. "'Cause General Hammond just filled me in on that…"

"No sir," Major Davis frowned, putting aside the comment about the ship for the moment and focusing on what he did know about the situation. "We have a slight conflict here sir," Major Davis said as looked around to make sure they were alone "I have been given clearance to brief you on the problem but it's considered top secret beyond that, not even the rest of SG1 have been cleared for knowledge regarding what I'm about to tell you."

"Ohhh kay?" O'Neill drawled out after a moment, trying to picture what sort of clearance would be needed to be in the know about whatever Major Davis was about to tell him, as far as he was aware, the SGC was the highest clearance level in the government currently, there were some people working at Area 51 that didn't have the necessary clearance to know about the SGC or what actually went on here.

"Doctor Giles has worked with a British secret project for several years now," Major Davis explained. "A British version of a project we have had under wraps here for nearly fifty years now sir. I'm assuming Mr Rayne has at least a passing familiarity with the project as well, given Doctor Giles' openness in speaking about it in front of him, but we don't have any information on him yet."

"The Doc's in the British army?" O'Neill asked as he looked over, catching sight of where Doctor Giles was stood by the car talking with the other man, his tweet jacket easily visible in the security lighting around the base.

"Not quite Colonel, the project on the British side appears to be a civilian run project, not connected in any way with their military or government." Major Davis explained. "You may find this hard to believe Colonel, but the project I am referring to is the Demon Research Initiative."

"The Demon Research Initiative?" O'Neill repeated Major Davis' last words with a sceptical tone and a raised eyebrow.

"I was as sceptical as you are at first Colonel," Major Davis nodded, understanding where the man was coming from. "I'm afraid I don't have the necessary papers here to brief you fully on the program itself."

"Are you trying to tell me that we have a program, within the military itself, specifically focused on researching demons?" O'Neill asked, if this had been anyone else he would have already been laughing in their face, coming from Major Davis however it was different. Davis was known for being a straight shooter who always went by the book; it's why he was chosen to liaise with the SGC on any international problems that might arise from the Stargate program.

"Precisely that Colonel," Major Davis nodded. "The program was first started during world war one, we came to work with the British version of the program during world war two when we were forced into international cooperation towards the end of the war."

"This is a joke right?" O'Neill asked hopefully. "Come on, that guy's a demon hunter? Like Van Hellsing or something?"

"I'm afraid not sir," Major Davis shook his head slowly. "You, Doctor Giles and Mr Rayne are now members of a very select that now know about both programs, if we had known Doctor Giles had prior ties to the Demon Research Initiative program, we would have had agent from their company sent to interview Mr Harris instead of the SGC."

"And this, Demon Research Initiative, or whatever the hell it is." O'Neill said with an exasperated tone, he hated dealing with other top secret programs, especially when they dealt with politics or one holding secrets over another. "Do they have any claim to Mr Harris?"

"None whatsoever sir," Major Davis shook his head. "As far as they are concerned, the Superman incident was under our mandate, as dealing with extra-terrestrial life is. They are unaware of Mr Harris' ties to the DRI or any supernatural interference."

"And you're telling me what? The kid's some sort of demon?" O'Neill asked with a frown, barely holding back the urge to yell at Major Davis.

"This isn't a joke Colonel," Major Davis added with a frown. "After talking it over with Doctor Giles and Mr Rayne, we are in agreement that Mr Harris is a complication born of supernatural incident, not extra-terrestrial incident."

"Are we handing them over to the DRI now then?" O'Neill asked, unsure as to where Major Davis was actually leading with this.

"It's a bit more complicated than that Colonel," Major Davis shook his head. "I have been in touch with Senator Blanco, we have agreed that Mr Harris will remain under the SGC's mandate due to the obvious nature of his powers and possibly biology, the DRI will be kept out of the loop to prevent them from gaining knowledge of the SGC."

"And the rest of my team?" O'Neill asked with a raised eyebrow. "Carter and Daniel are in there with the kid now, if he starts talking about all this classified stuff…"

"I don't believe he will Colonel." Major Davis shook his head again. "Neither Doctor Giles nor Mr Rayne were unaware of the existence of our side of the project; it's a fair assumption that Mr Harris has no knowledge of the DRI either."

"So… what, the kid's some demon hunter that got turned into Superman somehow?" O'Neill asked in frustration, running his hand through his hair.

"We're still working out how exactly this seems to have happened. If Mr Harris explains what he knows to the rest of SG1, then we may have to bring them in the loop, until then they are not authorised to be told of the existence of the DRI or the British affiliation on an official level."

"This..." O'Neill muttered with a frown. "Fine, so far we've got Superman in there floating around, why the hell can't we have Dracula come to the party as well." He groused as he rubbed his temples.

"I can tell you that Dracula is actually in the employ of a separate organisation working under The Crown in England, though we have no actual sources to verify how the Hellsing…" Major Davis trailed off as Colonel O'Neill held his hand up to silence him.

"Gah!" O'Neill shook his head in frustration as he held his hand up. "Don't need to know, not interested." He said fervently. "I'm already skating close to a psych evaluation because of the kid in there; I don't need thoughts of Dracula fighting Superman after throwing Goa'uld in the mix." He explained quickly, shaking his head. "Unless I need to know, then I'm not interested. Got it?"

"Yes Colonel," Major Davis nodded with a small smile. "If I'd have had more time, I would have been able to brief you on the DRI project fully, as it is, that will have to wait for another time."

"I look forward to it." O'Neill groused out sarcastically, inwardly wondering how many levels of Top Secret he currently held under his belt now.

"I'll be working with the city government on this Colonel, we still have to work out how to explain away the Superman incident tonight, also I have reports to give about what I've learnt here and a lot of paperwork to do regarding your new knowledge and Doctor Giles. Internationally this is going to be a pain to sort out." Major Davis explained.

"Paperwork or dealing with a real life Superman," O'Neill joked, balancing his hands out and gesturing them up and down like scales. "Not sure which of us has the better side here."

"Yes sir," Major Davis nodded with a small smile. "I'll be at City Hall if you need to contact me regarding anything."

"Gotcha," O'Neill nodded as they both made their way back towards the car and where Doctor Giles was stood.

"I'm leaving you both in Colonel O'Neill's capable hands." Major Davis said with a smile as he held out his hand for Giles to shake. "As I said before, Colonel O'Neill has been briefed on the DRI, or the truth shall we say. So you're both on the same page now."

"Quite, thank you for the help so far." Giles said with a smile as he shook the offered hand.

"Have fun with the politicians," O'Neill nodded as Major Davis got back inside the car. "Right, um, better take you down to see the kid then."

"Is he alright Colonel?" Giles asked as he followed Colonel O'Neill through the grounds of the base.

"Bit shaken up I guess," O'Neill nodded. "Know the feeling actually." He muttered to himself at the latest revelation Major Davis had just dropped on him. "The kid's really a demon hunter?" He asked in disbelief.

"Of a sort," Giles said with a small smile as they walked. "And I likewise could ask about your activities fighting aliens."

"Touché," Colonel O'Neill said with a grin as he led the way into the building containing the gym where Carter and Daniel had taken Xander.

* * *

"Are you keeping track of this?" Carter asked, watching from her side as she worked, methodically tightening up the notches at either side of the weights bar after adding more weight.

"Seventy kilograms on each side," Daniel said with a nod as he made sure the last notch was tightened before stepping back.

"Looks like you're clear." Carter said as she stepped back. "Same as before. If you feel any strain then I want you to drop it immediately."

"Yeah just an extra twenty five K," Xander whispered, still in shock at the ease that he had lifted fifty kilograms with. Taking a deep breath he reached down from where he was still floating in the air and gripping the weights bar evenly in his hand, remembering not to squeeze the bar too tight, he'd found that out the hard way the first time, their first weights bar still had dents in it from his fingers where he'd gripped it.

"Three, two, one…" Carter counted down, on the last count she watched as Xander casually picked up the weights with ease. "Incredible," she breathed out as she walked around Xander to get a better look.

"Ok, that's impressive." Daniel nodded in agreement from where he was stood watching the show. "Doesn't look like it's enough to change the height he's floating at though, you ok with that?"

"Yeah, got a good grip." Xander nodded, causing Carter to step onto the weights bench itself so she could reach and start measuring his pulse again on his neck.

"Same as before," Carter nodded. "If anything, you're even more relaxed than you were when we started. Pulse seems perfectly normal from what I can feel."

"How do you feel?" Daniel asked, looking up at Xander who was still floating there.

"Fine I guess," Xander nodded, adjusting his grip slightly. "I mean, I can feel the weight there, I know it's there, but it feels like I'm lifting a sheet of paper or something."

"You think you can go higher?" Carter asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah probably," Xander nodded. "Hold on." He said, causing everyone to step away from him for a moment as he put the weights bar back on it holder, causing the metal to creek slightly under the strain.

"What are you…" Carter asked as she watched him put the bar down, only to pick it up again, only this time with one hand in the center of the bar. "Oh." She said quietly as she blinked a few times at what she was seeing.

"Hold on," Daniel said with a frown, kneeling down for a second. "You're lowering down."

"I am?" Xander asked, looking down, the moment he looked down it was if gravity snapped back for him, dropping him to the padded floor instantly. "Yes, ground, oh I've missed you." He said with a grin.

"Better?" Carter asked with a smile, seeing how happy Xander was to be back on solid ground, though he was still holding the weights bar easily in one hand. "And you're not feeling any strain whatsoever?" She asked as she moved forward again to check his pulse, she even paused to run her hand over his bicep that was holding the weight to see how much it was straining from the weight, to her surprise the muscle was actually in a completely relaxed state, completely at odds with the extreme amount of weight that was being held casually in the arm attached to it.

"Nah," Xander shook his head, lifting the weights bar slowly up until he was doing a curl with it before lifting it above his head with ease.

"This is incredible," Carter said in awe. "To lift that amount of weight without assistance or strain, I can't even fathom how it would be possible."

"Same here, only with less words." Xander grinned at her, actually feeling a lot more at ease around these people now that they weren't treating him as a freak or anything.

"Xander?" Giles called out from across the room where he'd entered with Colonel O'Neill and Ethan.

"Oh, hey Giles, am I thankful to see you." Xander grinned as he raised the bar above his head with ease.

"You could'a waited Carter," O'Neill groused as they walked over. "See you got the kid back on the ground though. Weights get him down finally?" He asked, eying the heavy weights that Xander had in his arm and was lifting easily.

"Sort of sir," Carter nodded as she stepped down from the weights bench. "We've been running Xander through a few tests to see how much he can actively lift while in the air. Though I'm not actually sure we found a limit before he appeared to float down to the floor on his own accord."

"Ok, so what's the verdict here?" O'Neill asked. "We talking cars, tanks, buildings?" He asked the last, raising both eyebrows at the idea.

"We're not sure entirely sir," Carter said apologetically. "He's got about one forty on the bar at the moment, and it's not even putting a strain on his arm."

"Good lord, you mean to say you're lifting a hundred and forty kilograms?" Giles asked as he stepped forward.

"I'd say that's not even close to his limit as well sir." Carter explained. "Captain Carter, you must be Doctor Giles." She said, introducing herself as she walked over and held her hand out for Doctor Giles to shake.

"Yes, hello." Giles nodded as he shook the blonde woman's hand.

"This is Doctor Jackson," Carter introduced the other man who was stood with Xander.

"Pleasure to meet you all." Giles smiled at them all in turn. "This is Ethan Rayne, a… an old friend." He finished off, deciding it would be best to talk to Xander in private before talking with the military about their newfound problems.

"Uh, can I put this down now?" Xander asked from where he was still holding the weights bar above his head.

"Is something wrong?" Carter asked, moving forwards to check on him.

"Nah, just getting bored here holding it up." Xander shrugged with a small smile.

"Oh, yes, then slowly bring it down." Carter nodded with a smile, motioning for him to lower it back to the weights bench slowly, where the bench creaked under the weight being put on it.

"Thanks doc," Xander smiled as he brought the bar down before laying the sacks of weights on the floor where they resounded with a clash of metal against the concrete floor of the gym.

"You doing ok kid?" O'Neill asked, looking over to where Xander was poking his bicep with his fingers.

"Uh, yeah, I'm good," Xander shrugged, moving his arms around a bit to test he hadn't pulled or strained anything. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Ok, well if you guys have had enough fun here without me," O'Neill said with a small smile towards Carter and Daniel. "What you all say to heading back to the cafeteria so we can talk about this over a coffee and some snacks?"


End file.
